Volume 92, Issue 28

SPORTS With athletic cuts looming, a final look at the affected teams.

A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.

temple-news.com

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

VOL. 92 ISS. 28

COMMUNITY

After history of tensions, a surge in gentrification An influx of students in recent years has pushed community relations to the brink.

EMILY ROLEN CLAIRE SASKO The Temple News

ABI REIMOLD TTN

In search of stability For the mentally ill, services on Main Campus vary in helpfulness.

GRACE HOLLERAN The Temple News For legal reasons, some names have been changed. When real names are used, last names are included.

I

sabel runs her hand through the ends of her hair for the 14th time. Her eyes are lit up and she’s smiling and nodding as if she were talking about her senior capstone.

“I wish I could say I see things that aren’t there and have it have less of a connotation,” she said. “It’s scary. I haven’t even told my best friends.”

Despite her outwardly positive attitude, Isabel, a senior history major, is facing what she called the most debilitating struggle of her life. She started hallucinating after she was sexually assaulted for the second time in 2013. The incident caused her to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, according to her counselor and psychiatrist at Tuttleman Counseling Services.

“It’s so pervasive into everything in your life,” Isabel said. “If it gets bad

In order to return to Temple, one student was required to receive a consultation for his mental health and was prescribed medication. | ABI REIMOLD TTN enough, it can stop your life.”

In recent years, mental health has begun to be discussed more openly in an effort to reduce stigmas from conditions such as anxiety and depression. In college, when

many are busy networking and solidifying their career path, some students are learning to cope with their own mental health as well. Several of those students agreed that

COUNSEL PAGE 8

Hope for historic Broad Street theater Linda and Aissia Richardson seek to revitalize the Uptown Theater.

EMILY ROLEN The Temple News If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.

At least, that’s what members of the Uptown Entertainment Development Corporation think.

“If you’re not at the table, you will be eaten up,” said Aissia Richardson, half of the duo acting as the elected officers of the UEDC, next to her mother, Linda Richardson. “And we refuse to be eaten up.”

Aissia and Linda Richardson are the elected women

The historic Uptown Theater is located at 2240 N. Broad St. | SASH SCHAEFFER TTN over the board of directors and program committee of UEDC, working to not only save the historic Uptown Theater, located at 2240 N. Broad St., but to stimulate the economy and the surrounding neighborhood

in the most effective way for its residents.

The Black United Fund of Pennsylvania chair members started the nonprofit in 1995.

Linda Richardson is the only original incorporator active on

the board today.

“We did neighborhood surveys and interviews with people in the community to define what were some of the issues and needs of people that needed to be addressed by a new organization,” Linda Richardson said.

“From the beginning we wanted to be able to shape the organization based on the needs of the community.”

The organization focuses on programs, planning and projects with revamping the Uptown as the organization’s main project at this time. Aissia Richardson said saving one of Philadelphia’s last theaters that was built during the “golden age of Hollywood” would be a symbol of hope for the community.

The renovation of the the-

UPTOWN PAGE 11

Rotting iron bars guard a set of windows that once revealed a home, long since hollowed out and abandoned.

Broken glass, bricks and crumbling infrastructure lie scattered across the front yard of the house located on 16th and Jefferson Streets. A plastic bag, lifted by the wind, catches for a moment on the top spokes of a fence before drifting on to the steps of the next house.

The neighboring house is brand new, modular and compact. The rest of the block is filled with these buildings, lined up perfectly, each one stacked next to the other and equipped with its own Templetown Reality sign.

As Temple nears its 130th year as a resident of this North Philadelphia neighborhood, it continues to receive notable criticism from the community concerning the gentrification of the surrounding area. Recent tensions are often attributed to the conflicting lifestyles between college students and community members, as well as widespread distaste for university expansion.

A HISTORY OF REDEVELOPMENT

“When you say gentrification itself, it’s a loaded term,” said James Hilty, a retired Temple history professor who has written a book on the history of the

Developers market to students. | ALEXIS WRIGHT-WHITLEY TTN

university. “Many people think of gentrification as removing black families and replacing them with white, middle class families, in which old homes are removed and the old texture of a neighborhood is lost.”

Hilty said the physical infrastructure of North Philadelphia has been notably deteriorating since the 1950s, when many people referred to the neighborhood as a “slum.”

Hilty said tension between the community and Temple peaked during this time.

Around this time, Temple became interested in specific areas to relocate the campus, like Cheltenham Township – near the location of Temple’s former football stadium – specifically in a plot of land along Cheltenham Avenue and the Cedarbrook Country Club. In 1950, Temple also considered land in Chestnut Hill and purchased the Randall Morgan

GENTRIFICATION PAGE 6

‘Chop, boom, you’re gone’

STAY TUNED – ONLINE The Temple News presents “Chop, boom, you’re gone,” an interactive multimedia project that is the culmination of five months of reporting on the university’s decision last December to eliminate seven non-revenue sports.

Presented in words, images and video, “Chop, boom, you’re gone” will go live at chopboom.templenews.com on Sunday, May 11 at noon.

hanks for reading

The Temple News will return to newsstands in August. Follow us online during the summer. temple-news.com | @TheTempleNews

NEWS

PAGE 2

The Rudmans to donate $1 million to SMC’s TUTV program The philanthropists followed up on donation that started campus station.

JOE BRANDT The Temple News Radio and TV personality Kal Rudman and his wife, Lucille, will donate $1 million to the student-run Temple University Television, he announced during his acceptance speech at the Temple Alumni Association’s Impact Awards celebration on April 27.

Rudman’s initial $1.2 million donation in 2010 helped found the station, which broadcasts Temple Update and OwlSports programming, among other student-produced content.

“The number of universities and colleges with TV stations has escalated exponentially,” Rudman said after his acceptance speech. “Those schools are true vocational schools. This is one career especially, where you don’t need a master’s degree like you would in say, psychology.”

Paul Gluck, associate media studies and production professor, general manager of TUTV and instructor of the TUTV practicum course, said the donation will help with continuing station operations for the next four years and special programs like Temple Update coverage from abroad in London and Tokyo.

The donation will also help pay for new technology and the station’s transition to high definition pending Verizon and Comcast approval, Gluck said.

The station is broadcast 24/7 on Comcast channel 50 and Verizon channel 45.

“We’ve spoken to broadcasters in the Philadelphia area who are really the most impressed with the Temple students who come through their facility, more so than from any other school,” Lucille Rudman said.

“We’ve had an opportunity since the first grant to see tremendous progress in terms of the staff, the facility and student performance,” Lucille Rudman

said. “It was inspiring, and merited additional support.”

Kal Rudman, 84, holds two education degrees from Temple, which he attended on a Guggenheim fellowship. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1951 and a master’s in 1957. He made his fortune from Friday Morning Quarterback, a music and radio industry trade publication.

Rudman started as a DJ in 1959, balancing his radio career with his job as a science teacher.

He was also the first R&B editor for Billboard magazine, a co-host on the “Merv Griffin Show” and the resident music expert on NBC’s “Today Show” beginning in 1982.

In addition to his donations to the School of Medicine’s Pulmonary Research Fund – as a way of thanks for saving his wife’s life – Rudman has donated to other media centers at Drexel and the Community College of Philadelphia.

When asked what motivates him to donate, Rudman said “It’s because I can. It’s because my wife Lucille and I, that’s what we want to do with our money: no bling, no fancy Buicks in 60 years.”

Rudman will be back on campus Thursday, when the School of Media and Communication will hold an event for students to thank Rudman, SMC Dean David Boardman said.

The ceremony began at noon with a reception on the 27th floor of Morgan Hall, followed by speeches from trustee and Alumni Association President John Campolongo, as well as Provost Hai-Lung Dai. Stephen and Sandra Sheller receieved the Russell Conwell award for their donations to help found the Sheller Center for Social Justice, a component of the Beasley School of Law which represents low-income workers.

Accountant and founder of Merves & Company, Stanley Merves received the F. Eugene Dixon Jr. Inspiration award for his annual contributions to Temple Athletics.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@temple.edu or on Twitter @JBrandt_TU.

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

STAFF REPORTS | research

The Center for Sustainable Communities will research sections of the Delaware River watershed, including this area of Pennypack Creek in Philadelphia. | ALEXIS WRIGHT-WHITLEY TTN

Grant aims to help watersheds Center for Sustainable Communities granted funds to study storm runoff.

LOGAN BECK The Temple News The William Penn Foundation awarded Temple’s Center for Sustainable Communities a $1.23 million grant to oversee the implementation of projects during a 10-year initiative aimed to improve the conditions of watersheds in the Philadelphia area.

Jeffrey Featherstone, director of the Center for Sustainable Communities, said the venture began with an invitation to participate in a preliminary process of developing plans for the Philadelphia watersheds.

The center put together a proposal that initially requested closer to $2 million for the grant. Additional funding was acquired from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a conservation nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., to help protect wildlife and habitats. NFWF agreed to serve as a sponsor for projects that are a part of the William Penn initiative, Featherstone said.

The Delaware River watershed spans more than 13,500 square miles from upstate New York to where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is a major source of drinking water for the Philadelphia area, as well as an important ecological feature for habitats in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The watershed also serves as a critical

resource for economic enterprises and recreation to 15 million people living within its boundaries in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and parts of Maryland.

However, the watershed is threatened by deforestation, stormwater runoff and pollution from cities and farms.

Temple will be playing the lead role in monitoring what is known as the Upstream Suburban Philadelphia Cluster of watersheds. The center will oversee projects being constructed to restore the watershed, monitor and evaluate the water quality, supply and flow, as well as improving the computer models designed to simulate how watersheds work.

The team hopes to determine what level of improvements is needed in order to make a significant difference in the quality of the watershed.

“The major problem is that we’ve not done a very good job managing stormwater,” Featherstone said.

Stormwater runoff creates abundant issues for the watersheds, including flooding, problems with water quality, pollution and fish suffocating – all of which can lead to problems at water treatment plants.

Development over streams that flow into the greater watershed can force runoff to flow quickly over land, picking up hazardous waste and chemicals or contributing to erosion.

Patrick Starr, executive vice president of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, said Temple has a history of creating

stormwater management plans, and has a “deep knowledge” of the watersheds the team will be working in.

In addition to improving the water quality with this initiative, there will also be community outreach programs implemented. This includes the development of a citizen monitoring program designed to engage citizens in learning about the creeks in their backyards and communities, as well as to help them become more informed about water quality.

“We are also doing projects to improve environmental education,” Starr said.

This initiative will be a collaborative group effort by a number of groups, including Villanova University. At Temple, a number of people from different areas of expertise are working on the project, including Laura Toran of the earth and environmental science department and Ryan Roberts from the Engineering department.

“We have lots of faculty involved and graduate research assistance, so it’s kind of exciting,” Featherstone said.

During the 10-year period, CSC hopes to make significant improvements to the quality of the watersheds.

“I think there’s a lot of really good experience and expertise at Temple and everyone is recognizing their contributions,” Starr said.

Logan Beck can be reached at logan.beck@temple.edu.

Advocate rallies for Mumia Abu-Jamal’s birthday Protestors argue gentrification threatens Black Panther HQ. SARAI FLORES The Temple News More than 200 supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal held a march on Saturday from the former Philadelphia headquarters of the Black Panther movement to the Church of the Advocate, calling for Abu-Jamal’s release and against gentrification in North Philadelphia’s community.

Protestors at the Sons and Daughters of the Revolution March argued the historic Black Panther headquarters on the 1900 block of Cecil B. Moore Avenue, of which Abu-Jamal was a member, is in threat due to encroaching gentrification. The event was held as part of a weekend celebration of Abu-Jamal’s 60th birthday on April 24.

In 1982 Abu-Jamal was convicted for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death. His supporters claim he is a political prisoner as a result of his radical radio broadcasts during the 1970s.

Abu-Jamal spent 18 years on Pennsylvania’s death row before his death sentence was overturned in December 2001. In 2011 Abu-Jamal was given life in prison without possibility

NEWS DESK 215-204-7419

of parole, which he is serving at the State Correctional Institution – Mahanoy in Frackville, Pa. Faulkner had worked for the Philadelphia Police Department for five years before his murder, and his death has received support from the Fraternal Order of Police and members of Congress. Abu-Jamal’s conviction is supported by the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well.

FOP Lodge 5 in Philadelphia has been advocating for Faulkner’s case, creating a Facebook page in 2011 called “Justice for Daniel Faulkner.”

The FOP could not be reached for comment, and the Philadelphia Police Department declined to comment on the rally.

Around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, dressed in reds, yellows and greens, groups from the United African Movement, Alumni Association of the Black Panther Party, Peoples Organization for Progress and Freedom Retreat gathered in a circle overlapping into the right lane of Cecil B. Moore Avenue “We did not know then of the terrible plan that they had for the black community,” said Pam Africa, a leader of the MOVE movement in Philadelphia. “A lot of people say we need to have more things in the black community. There is no black community anymore. This community here is Temple

and they’re taking it over.”

The crowd, led by protestors shouting into a megaphone, echoed chants of “Brick by brick, wall by wall we’re going to free them all” to the beat of drums in the background with the occasional fist springing up into the air and supportive honks and waves from passing cars.

In 2000, Amnesty International published a 35-page report that questioned the fairness of Abu-Jamal’s trial.

The report was instrumental in getting his death sentence overturned. Ronald Coburn, a coordinator for the Philadelphia chapter of Amnesty International, said his organization continues to support a full retrial for the murder of Faulkner.

“His trial was terrible and he needs to be retried. It looked like it was political because he was a Black Panther,” Coburn said. “The trial was a travesty. I don’t know if he did it or not, but I think he should be retried.”

Abu-Jamal’s case has gained international attention and support from countries like France, which named a street outside of a suburb of Paris after Abu-Jamal in 2006.

Mireille Fanon-Mendés, a professor at the University of Paris V- Descartes in France and daughter of revolutionary writer Frantz Fanon, flew in from Paris the day before to attend the event.

“All of us [are] targeted by ra-

NEWS@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM

Protestors calls for the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of murder in the death of a Philadelphia cop. | SERGEI BLAIR TTN cial discrimination, xenophobia and we need to be together, united even in different countries and use [this] political prisoner case as a political case,” Fanon-Mendés said.

After a speech delivered over the phone from Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez Herrera in support of Abu-Jamal’s release, the group began its march shouting “The people united will never be defeated.”

Upon reaching the Church of the Advocate at 18th and Diamond streets, the group gathered into the church’s

sanctuary where meetings were held discuss how to fight gentrification and the reinstatement of Temple assistant professor Anthony Monterio.

“We continue to struggle everyday around gentrification,” Sista Paula, a member of the former Black Panther movement, said. “The Black Panther Party continues what we call our unfinished business in this country… we must be a united voice never to be silenced.”

Sarai Flores can be reached at sarai.abisag.flores@temple.edu.

NEWS

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

PAGE 3

STAFF REPORTS | ADMINISTRATION

Administrators moonlight as professors Theobald, as well as top members of cabinet, take secondary roles as adjuncts.

MARCUS MCCARTHY Assistant News Editor Professor Larry Brandolph recently asked his lecture hall full of more than 100 students how to fix TUportal and Blackboard.

The exercise was not a hypothetical scenario posed by a textbook, but was rather inspired by a real-word situation in which the problems with the two systems caused delays and frustrations among Temple’s student body during class registration this spring.

The professor was quite familiar with the case study, as he is one of the university’s top technology administrators.

Brandolph, assistant vice president of computer services, is one of several university administrators who bring experience from their respective fields into the classroom as part-time adjunct professors.

“I’m bringing in real-world data,” Brandolph said. “I was in the midst of troubleshooting [the issues with TUportal and Blackboard]. So I came to class and – we knew exactly what failed at that point – and I was like ‘OK, who’s going to guess what the problem was?’”

Jodi Levine Laufgraben, vice provost for academic affairs, is also an adjunct professor and teaches a graduate class on planning in higher education in the College of Education. The class meets roughly once every month a semester for a night session, the rest of the material is taught

online.

Laufgraben said education goes both ways in her course, with some graduate students bringing unique ideas from other institutions. Brandolph said his undergraduate class is also educational to him because he can directly gauge student sentiment toward a computer services initiative by asking students in his course.

Laufgraben has been teaching at Temple since 1995 after she received her doctorate from Temple and has been teaching the higher education planning course for five years.

“Being able to discover ways that students are learning in my class is a great opportunity for me,” Laufgraben said. “During the day I spend a lot of time working with faculty and other administrators, so this is a way for me to have contact with students and to keep student interests in mind.”

Laufgraben said balancing the duties of an administrator and part-time professor is a delicate exercise in time management. She said weekends, evenings and university vacation time is when she finds time to grade papers and do course planning.

Brandolph said his decision to teach on the side was not motivated by money.

“Trust me, they don’t pay enough. It’s definitely not [a career choice] from a money standpoint,” Brandolph said. “For me, it’s easy: I love to teach.”

Lisa Zimmaro, assistant vice president of risk management and the treasury, said seeing her students’ success makes the time sacrifices worth it. She teaches an introductory course in risk management and said she’s seen students change their major because of the course to pursue ca-

Trustees vote to hire Seattle-based investment firm Finance committee selects Pugh Capital to manage fixed-income funds.

JOE BRANDT The Temple News Temple will hire Seattle-based Pugh Capital Management Inc. to manage its fixed-income Operating and Auxiliary Reserves fund, the investments committee of the Board of Trustees announced in a meeting last week.

Pugh, which has $2.8 billion in assets, also manages the investment portfolio for corporations and the University of Washington.

The university will notify Pugh this week and ask for a final fee negotiation, which Chief Financial Officer Ken Kaiser said was currently 26.7 basis points, or 0.27 percent of the managed assets.

Investments committee chair and local investment banker Christopher McNichol said he would like to see the fee reduced, and noted that the committee only approved the selection of Pugh, not the fee.

Kaiser told the trustees that his office, with help from Temple’s financial advisers, Cambridge Financial Associates, considered five firms and interviewed three before recommending Pugh.

For fixed-income projects, Pugh selects investment opportunities based on identifying trends and “inefficiencies within the market that can be exploited,” according to the corporation’s website. It then develops a portfolio profile and interest rate forecast for clients.

The OAR fund exists to manage university debts through the use of fixed-income sources, Kaiser said. Since the income is fixed, no risk is involved.

“It’s not a complicated portfolio for somebody to run since its all fixed-income,” Kaiser said. “You just need to align your investments with your liabilities.”

Though his office could manage the fund, Kaiser said it was

more efficient to leave it to Pugh.

“Every time you had a new bond issue, you had to reset the fund,” Kaiser said. “You had to babysit it.”

In February, the committee fired RS Investments from managing part of the university endowment, saying that personnel changes at the firm were cause for concern. Temple assigned RS’ duties to Van Eck Associates Corp., which already had an investment manager for the post-retirement plan and is heavily invested in gold mining companies such as Barrick Gold Corp.

“Every manager we hire, we want to have a long relationship,” Kaiser said. He added that Temple’s relationship with Pugh “could be for 30 years, unless they screw up.”

The investments committee recommended that the OAR fund, founded in 1984 as the Retirement of Indebtedness fund, be renamed in a March 26 meeting, a resolution waiting for approval at the May 13 general body meeting. The general body has rarely rejected committee recommendations.

The trustees’ audit committee met at 2 p.m. in executive session for roughly an hour, Kaiser said.

Since executive sessions are not public, Kaiser did not share all the details from the meeting, but did not deny that the committee discussed taxes and the new fiscal year.

“We’re nonprofit, so we don’t have a heavy tax burden,” Kaiser said. “All we have to fill out is a 990 return,” he said, referring to the IRS’ special tax form for nonprofit organizations.

Any recommendations from the committee will be brought forth at the May 13 general body meeting.

The next trustees meeting is the facilities committee on May 5 at 12 p.m., a newly rescheduled date from the originally scheduled April 30 meeting.

Joe Brandt can be reached at joe.brandt@temple.edu.

reers in the subject.

“For the students who come in as a sophomore or a first-semester junior and they go, ‘Oh this looks great, I really want to do it,’ you can really see the incredible change in them, the professionalism,” Zimmaro said.

Zimmaro said she’s hired a number of her promising students as interns in her administrative office. She said they’ve gone on to get jobs after graduation at insurance-related firms like the ACE Group, Chris Born Agency and Martel Insurance Services.

“To watch them develop is amazing,” Zimmaro said. “They do so well. They’re the ones who have job offers in hand by their Christmas break to start in May after graduation.”

Other administrators who teach include President Theobald and Senior Vice President for Construction, Facilities and Operations Jim Creedon.

Theobald taught a two-semester, one-credit seminar starting last fall that focused on organizational issues facing Temple. The course is again registered for Fall 2014 and requires special permission of an advisor in order to get into.

Creedon teaches a graduate course with sections at Temple Center City Campus, Temple Ambler Campus and an online version for Temple Harrisburg Campus. The course focuses on operational planning for disaster recovery.

Creedon’s Facilities Office managed the university’s response to Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, as well as an unusually snowy winter this year, the third-heaviest in the history of Philadelphia. “[Former students] come up to me and say, ‘Thank you so much. I had no direction. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I didn’t know

Associate Vice President Larry Brandolph teaches an MIS course part-time.| ALEXIS WRIGHT-WHITELY TTN

where I was going and now I know exactly where my career path is going. Thank you so much,’” Zimmaro said. “You know, I’m on cloud nine.

You don’t get that kind of feedback and feeling of appreciation and value like I get from students.”

Marcus McCarthy can be reached at marcus. mccarthy@temple.edu or on Twitter @marcusmccarthy6.

STAFF REPORTS | FACILITIES

Mechanics worked to repair damage in an electrical room inside Temple Towers after a steam pipe burst, causing a power outage in the building in the early morning hours on Saturday. | JOHN MORITZ TTN

Steam burst forces Temple Towers residents to sleep in Student Center Students were told to leave early Saturday after steam caused a power outage.

JOHN MORITZ DOMINIQUE JOHNSON The Temple News Close to 250 residents of Temple Towers were forced to sleep overnight in the Student Center early Saturday morning after a pipe burst in a mechanical area of the building, releasing large amounts of steam, which shorted out the electrical system.

Acting Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone said the entire building was evacuated shortly after 1 a.m. on Saturday when the power in the building failed due to the steam burst. Residents of the hall reported seeing steam in the first floor hallways. Leone said there was no actual fire in the building.

“I wasn’t too worried, I was just a little aggravated about the fact that they didn’t tell us anything,” Derrick Matthews, a sophomore civil engineering major and Temple Towers occupant,

said. “We all kind of speculated what happened, but they really didn’t provide any kind of information. I understand that they also really didn’t know what was happening, but at the same time they could have given us hourly updates about what they were doing.”

Matthews said the power went off about 12:30 a.m., followed by the sound of a small explosion.

Sophomore strategic communications major Stephanie Craft said she was sleeping in her room because she had work the next morning when the fire alarm went off around 12:45 a.m.

“I was scared, confused, sleepy and mad,” Craft said.

Craft and other Towers residents were forced to go outside in the rain after the alarm first went off, but said they were later allowed to gather in the lobby where they reported being told to go to the Student Center or find other accomodations.

“My friends and I found a kind of dark, kind of quiet place to sleep,” said Kelly Steckler, a junior anthropology major, adding that she got very little sleep.

Both Steckler and Craft said they slept on chairs they pushed together to form make-shift beds.

“They just kind of told us to go to the Student Center and they didn’t really make sure we were all there,” Matthews said. “I personally was not able to sleep, but I saw others who were sleeping on the floors of the Student Center.”

Residents of Towers who attempted to spend the night in 1300 Residence Hall reported that they were told not to stay there due to the possibility of evacuation as a result of the power outage.

Leone said CSS monitored the possible effects of the Towers steam burst and power outage at nearby 1300, but determined there was not an issue.

The all-clear was issued around 6 a.m., and crews were in the building that afternoon to fix electrical equipment.

“I never thought I would ever have to sleep in the SAC,” Craft said. “But I guess it makes for a good story in the long run.”

Around 3 a.m., the fire alarm went off in 1940 Residence Hall, although Leone said that incident did not appear to be related. It was not immediately clear as to the reason for that alarm.

John Moritz and Dominique Johnson can be reached at news@temple-news.com.

PAGE 4

EDITORIAL/OP-ED

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

A watchdog for the Temple University community since 1921.

Joey Cranney, Editor-in-Chief Jenelle Janci, Managing Editor Cheyenne Shaffer, Chief Copy Editor John Moritz, News Editor Jerry Iannelli, Opinion Editor Erin Edinger-Turoff, Living Editor Patricia Madej, Arts & Entertainment Editor Avery Maehrer, Sports Editor Marcus McCarthy, Asst. News Editor Evan Cross, Asst. Sports Editor Jessica Smith, Asst. Living Editor Sam Tighe, Asst. Arts & Entertainment Editor Dustin Wingate, Multimedia Editor Alexandra Snell, Multimedia Editor Chris Montgomery, Web Editor

Patrick McCarthy, Asst. Web Editor Abi Reimold, Photography Editor Andrew Thayer, Asst. Photography Editor Addy Peterson, Design Editor Katherine Kalupson, Designer E.J. Smith Designer Donna Fanelle, Designer Zachary Campbell, Advertising Manager Grayson Holladay, Business Manager Morgan Hutchinson, Marketing Manager

The Temple News is an editorially independent weekly publication serving the Temple University community. Unsigned editorial content represents the opinion of The Temple News. Adjacent commentary is reflective of their authors, not The Temple News.

Visit us online at temple-news.com.

Send submissions to letters@temple-news.com.

The Temple News is located at: Student Center, Room 243 1755 N. 13th St. Philadelphia, PA 19122

EDITORIALS

Respect student journalism It was mid-afternoon sault and off-campus attacks, we on Nov. 15 when a Temple feel reaffirmed of our role as a News reporter reached Patrick vital news organization in North O’Connor, chairman of the Philadelphia.

Board of Trustees, on the phone.

We know that as student The reporter had been journalists, we are often disrestruggling to get In light of budget cuts spected, overin contact with looked or underTrustee Den- and shrinking newsrooms, estimated.

We student journalism is can’t help but nis Alter for the better part of more needed than ever. think O’Connor two weeks to no would never avail. Alter, who faces a po- have spoken to a reporter at the tential $219 million fine from Inquirer that way if someone the Federal Deposit Insurance had called his office line.

Commission, was nowhere to So we’d like to take this opbe found for comment. portunity to remind folks that So the reporter reached student journalism is, at the end out to anyone that might have of the day, still journalism. been able to point him in the We are Temple Universirigh direction, including Alter’s ty’s independent, fully studentlawyers and a few of his known run newspaper. We have been business associates. a watchdog for the university On a whim, he attempted to community since 1921. In Febcall the chairman of the board at ruary, it was announced that The his legal practice in the middle Temple News won 17 Student of a weekday.

Keystone Press Awards from the “You call the chairman of Pennsylvania Newspaper Assothe board asking for a f—ing ciation, which tied an all-time phone number?” O’Connor said state record. after the reporter asked if there This past weekend, we won was any way to be put in contact the Mark of Excellence award with Alter directly. from the Society of Profes“Like I’m your secretary?” sional Journalists as the Best O’Connor said. “Would you like All-Around Non Daily student newspaper in the Northeast rea sandwich, too?”

We immediately knew that gion.

Frequently this year, we’ve O’Connor’s highly inappropriate comments were a part of scooped local education reportthe story. After all, this was the ers on major stories. Perhaps chairman of the board, the most even more frequently, we’ve powerful man at Temple, who covered stories in North Philareceived an honorary degree delphia that the rest of the city’s news organizations missed. from the university in 2013.

We think our job as student Cursing at someone over the phone is no way for him to journalists is more important for speak to any Temple student, let this city now more than ever.

For the past four years we’ve alone a student reporter.

We realized that our ex- watched as staff cuts and newsperience with O’Connor was a room reorganizing have diminmicrocosm of the closed chan- ished the local media’s ability nels of communication between to properly cover a variety of Temple’s highest governing issues in Philadelphia, including higher education. board and the public.

With much discomfort, Our editorial on the subject, titled “Hiding Behind the Cur- we’ve been closely following tain,” received an overwhelm- the ongoing legal battles to deingly positive reaction. Profes- termine the ownership of the sional reporters from across the Inquirer, Daily News and Philly. country emailed us to commend com. We’ve seen how issues our reporting and offer encour- with embattled owners and declining advertising revenue can agement.

The online post is the most affect content and we’re grateful viewed Opinion article in the that we’re able to avoid those issues. history of temple-news.com.

In light of all the conflict We bring this story up in our final editorial of the semes- that inflicts local and national ter not as a pat on the back, but news media, we’re proud to be a call for respect. After a school a student newspaper that keeps year’s worth of reporting on ma- its head down and quietly goes jor issues at this university, in- about the business of trying to cluding athletic cuts, sexual as- get it right.

CORRECTIONS The Temple News strives to be a newspaper of record by printing factually correct and balanced articles. Accuracy is our business, so when a mistake is made, we’ll correct it as soon as possible. Anyone with inquiries about content in this newspaper can contact Editor-in-Chief Joey Cranney at editor@temple-news.com or 215.204.6737.

KATIE HENNESSY TTN

FROM THE ARCHIVES...

March 26, 1969: Students rally to protest gentrification. Jerry Rubin, founder of the Youth International Party, spoke on Main Campus about protest, revolution and gentrification on campus. The area west of Main Campus has gentrified rapidly in the last 14 years.

COMMENTARY

The stories we tell

In his send-off column, our editor-in-chief reflects on the stories that mattered.

A

boyish-looking 16-year-old was standing in a brightly lit classroom that was probably a little too spacey for its own good.

It wasn’t the principal’s office, but the room was full of adults who weren’t happy. They had read something in the school newspaper that morning that had upset them, and now they had summoned the reporter to reprimand him.

“I’m just curious where you’re getting your information from,” one of them said as she stapled together the next day’s health test.

The reporter looked to the floor. He was surprised by her Joey Cranney question and startled by her confidence.

This was Upper Moreland High School, a public school in the Northeast suburbs that you’ve probably never heard of. It has a decent football team, but no journalism curriculum.

When I got there as a freshman, the high school newspaper, called Bear Print, was a mostly non-existent club that hadn’t put out a paper in years. It was run out of a science classroom, advised by an ecology teacher who offered about as much advice as the tarantula in the room’s terrarium.

I worked there for four years, helping transform Bear Print from a defunct newsletter to a monthly publication by the time I was editor-in-chief my senior year.

When I was a junior in high school, I wrote a story in Bear Print that criticized the physical education program’s choices of activities in gym class.

It was barely journalism, but it hit hard enough that a group of gym teachers cornered me in my English classroom at the end of the day that it published.

I thought for months about what I

should write about for this send-off column – my final goodbye as editor-in-chief of The Temple News.

During my four years here, I’ve covered a presidential election, interviewed a former U.S. Congressman, attended a murder trial and reported extensively on the athletic department’s budget issues.

I’ve written 113 sports articles, 33 news articles, five arts & entertainment columns, four opinion columns and two articles in the Living section.

What is there left to say?

Plenty, but I decided to start with a story about my journalism beginnings in high school because it reminds me of a more recent story where a student journalist wrote something someone didn’t want him to write.

This past December, The Temple News accurately reported on the legal troubles of trustee Dennis Alter, the former credit-card magnate who faces a potential $219 million fine from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

When contacted for comment on the story, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Patrick O’Connor told a Temple News reporter to “reexamine his goals as a newspaper man” and “think hard about whether [his reporting] is helping the Temple community.”

The lesson today is the same one I learned standing in that English classroom six years ago: The best kinds of stories are the ones that keep you up at night. They’re the ones that piss off gym teachers, fluster billionaires and get you called into the principal’s office.

Throughout my tenure here, I’ve tried to find those stories. And I’ve watched with admiration as the reporters I’ve worked with have also found them.

More than anything, The Temple News has taught me that great storytelling comes from great people.

People like last year’s editor-in-chief, who taught me to read everything and write honestly, and this year’s managing editor, who I’ll always remember as the girl who liked to listen to Sam Cooke in

the newsroom and became one of my best friends.

People like our Living and Arts & Entertainment editors, who I’ve watched grow from two young features writers into confident reporters with an investigative zeal. Or our Opinion editor, who is nerdy in a good way and the best writer I know.

And people like our sports editors, who started as beat reporters when I was sports editor, but have matured into running what I consider to be one of the best college newspaper sports sections in the country.

Here’s the last story I’ll tell.

This past November, The Temple News closely followed a developing situation off-campus where a Temple student with a gun was barricaded inside his home

by Philadelphia police and SWAT teams.

We reported on the story from around 11 a.m. until well past midnight as a daylong standoff ensued. Our news editor was on the scene for more than 12 hours straight, posting hourly on our news blog and tweeting constant updates.

Around noon, the Inquirer and Metro Philly published erroneous reports that the student had killed himself. After we posted a story confirming that the student was still alive, both publications issued corrections.

Police would later recover the student safely with no injuries.

Sometime toward the end of the night, when things were winding down, I called our news editor and asked him if he needed anything. He hadn’t eaten in hours and the temperature was steadily dropping.

All he wanted, he said, was a large root beer and French fries from Wendy’s.

When I showed up at the scene minutes later, he looked cold and exhausted, but invigorated at having gotten the story right all day.

I gave him his root beer and his fries. I hugged him. I told him I was proud of him.

Joey Cranney can be reached at joseph.cranney@temple.edu or on Twitter @joey_cranney.

COMMENTARY

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

PAGE 5

COMMENTARY

Stay true to your lame hobbies

A four-year member of Temple’s only allmale a capella singing group reflects on his time singing cover songs in college.

I

By Aaron Castro

was once in a high school production of “Cats.” For three nights, I strapped on a 30-pound costume made of crossstitched yarn and operatically sang about British cat philosophy to an enormous theatre full of snickering classmates. It was a level of emasculation that sits somewhere in between crying during “50 First Dates” and complete castration. At no point did I particularly feel like I was expressing myself through song—I was more of a plot point to move along Andrew Lloyd Webber’s semipsychotic, uncomfortably sexual cross-species nightmare.

I have seen rock bottom, where cool goes to die forever. It is “Cats.”

When I came to Temple the following year, I swore to make a bigger commitment to avoid social suicide. I wanted to be cool and suave, maybe grow a beard and get to third base with some girls in my hallway. My talents—singing like a tiny Josh Groban and memorizing movie trivia—had always lent themselves to embarrassing me. I was going to have to get some new hobbies.

However, I ran into Broad Street Line that week. Broad Street Line is Temple’s oldest a cappella group. They had a kiosk at Experience Temple Day—the exact kind of cheesy rah-rah fanfare I typically avoid. Two guys introduced themselves to me, their names were Ron and Josh and they were seniors.

Like, 21-yearold seniors. In that moment, I was the first person in history to think a cappella singing was my ticket to the cool table.

A week later, I had auditioned and been accepted into the group—mostly because I can make drum set sounds with my mouth. I was elated to see the email, but it was followed by an immediately familiar feeling.

What have you done, Aaron?

A cappella music infuriates me. It is crass, repetitive, and unforgivably goofy. When I hear that lanky, cheeseball Pentatonix lead singer douse radio hits in stylized riffs, I want to put my fist through my computer screen. This always put me in a sort of outsider box in the a cappella community – and believe me, there is an a cappella community. We have a secret Facebook group. While the rest of Broad Street Line ogled other groups, discussed finer points of arranging for voice or spit nerdy game at visiting singers, I often stood by in a corner with my cynicism. I loved those people, so I was pretty good at keeping a poker face. But, you don’t know how much you appreciate Lil Wayne until you watch a dead ringer for McLovin rap his lyrics Shy-Ronnie-style into a microphone. The genre simply never grew on me.

So, I quit after a short try, right? Wrong. On Saturday, I sang in my final concert with Broad Street Line after four long years. It has forced me to think about my time and the group and face a truth that I hoped to never admit to myself: Joining Broad Street Line was possibly the best decision of my entire life.

After all this time, it’s not about, nor has it ever been about the music. On Saturday, I rapped a Kanye West song backed by a bunch of future choir teachers—it was not any less embarrassing than it was when I was 18. But I was with my friends.

I come from a family so large that I can probably only name a third of my cousins. Still, I have never had a bigger, better family than Broad Street Line. I have sung with more than 30 people that I will remember decades after we lose touch. I have seen some of these guys grow up, get married and hold down real jobs. I have seen others turn from pimple-faced freshmen into confident, hilarious young men. And those guys have seen me at my worst: Singing do’s and da’s in front of people I would normally try to impress— President Obama, for instance.

I’ve always been pretty terrible at following college sports, and even worse at keeping up with college courses. I skulked through a major that I found completely uninspiring just because it was too expensive to switch out of it. My only real connection to Temple University was Broad Street Line. I think those guys should hand me my diploma. No singing, though. Please.

I’m not writing this as a love letter to my guys, because they already know I love them.

I’m writing it because I think a lot of kids like me give up their uncool extra-curriculars when they come to college.

But you’ll never meet the people you were supposed to meet.

If you can sing, you can sing for a reason. The same goes for ballet, juggling, parkour, or whatever super weird thing you’re good at.

If you’re uncool, then you’re uncool. And lying to yourself won’t change that.

Aaron Castro can be reached at aaron.castro@temple.edu.

KEES HOLTERMAN TTN

THE ESSAYIST...

The view from ‘The Wall’

A student attempts to find a homeless man in the pursuit of storytelling.

T

By Jerry Iannelli

revor sits outside of the Rite Aid near my home each night asking for change.

Trevor used to thank Jesus when a few coins tumbled into his cup, but I haven’t heard him utter anything about the Lord since it got cold outside. Trevor seems fairly new.

There is also the ham-shaped woman who cases 13th Street trying to bankroll an indefinite, three-year pregnancy. Golden Gloves, the underground boxing champ who allegedly knocked a man dead some time ago, will occasionally root himself outside of the 7-Eleven and ask for $20 bills. Golden Gloves – who promised me that he “never forgets a face” – has introduced himself to me on three separate occasions. Intermittently, there has also been Leonard and his sand-colored blazer. Leonard splits his time between my block and Center City asking strangers for hugs.

There are the men that need SEPTA tokens and the women that need a motel room for the night. There was one man in February who knocked on my door to just to ask for an apple and a glass of water.

Then, all of a sudden, there was a man Ali wanted me to find. *** I get lunch at Ali’s Middle Eastern two or three times each week, not necessarily for the food as much as the company.

Ali’s greatest skill exists in making statements so impervious to fact-checking that they border on performance art. Ali may have been a semi-professional soccer player in his youth and is purported to vacation each year with the ambassador from Oman. Every word that leaves his

OPINION DESK 215-204-7416

mouth croaks from the very bottom of his esophagus, and if I listen to him speak for long enough, he will occasionally give me a free meal.

On this particular afternoon, there was snow on the ground and Ali was begging me to interview a homeless friend of his.

“Now, you are in the news, are you not?” he asked. “I’ve got a story for you.”

Ali told me there was a peculiar fellow that comes to the food court each morning for breakfast. Apparently, the man used to run some sort of business in town, and he’d had a wife and a few children before things inevitably fell apart.

“Why’s he on the streets?” I asked.

“Fire,” Ali said bluntly. “His family – they died in a fire a few years back. He had nowhere to go and no family to go back to! What can a man do in that situation, Jerry? One minute you’re stable, the next… Well, you know how it works around here.”

He rapped his index finger – slender and lean for a man of his girth – on the countertop.

“Talk to him, you! A story could really help him out. You know, turn the tides. Last week, he walks up to my shop, and says, ‘Ali, my hands, they are freezing!’” – Ali held his hands up and made them shiver – “and I had no gloves for him.

I felt so bad, Jerry. I gave him a cup of coffee and wrapped his hands in paper towels.”

“You said he comes around every morning?”

“He is here every morning. Come like, six, seven o’clock, you’ll find him sitting right there.”

Ali pointed back to the benches behind me. “His name is Jerry. Like you. I used to let him watch my shop for a few bucks, Jerry, and he never stole a thing, I swear. A thing!”

I assured Ali I’d speak to the guy, and left with a Styrofoam container of falafel and a copy of the Daily News.

*** The next day, I arrived at the food court before the sun did. Richie’s place was the only one open, so I bought a cup of coffee and watched him pluck stale muffins from his shop window in the twilight. I took enough cash to cover two egg sandwiches, but the benches were empty and I knew there’d be no hope of finding the guy once the crowds swelled.

But as the day went on, there were only students, a throng of them hawking orders into the shop windows as if trading turmeric in a Moroccan bazaar. The graying couple that runs Adriatic Grill shooed away the hamshaped woman asking for change.

I sat there for two hours on the first morning and I didn’t see the man. I didn’t find him on the second either, and I must admit I gave up and forgot about him for the next four months. *** For all intents and purposes, Ali has been cemented into his storefront. I’ve never seen his feet.

Ali peers each day from a glorified drivethrough window slightly smaller than a schoolhouse blackboard. He was a student here before he became part of the furniture: Ali opened a nondenominational Middle Eastern food truck shortly after graduating. Midway through the ‘90s, this turned into a brick-and-mortar restaurant. The replacement building looks crushingly square and Soviet in its design.

Ali will grumble about the structure from time to time, but the days when he isn’t around to serve lunch are rare. Ali cannot be older than 60, though his presence at Temple seems to predate college basketball and the color cherry itself.

Some days he and I will chat, and he’ll ask me about my plans for graduation. On others, we’ll both stare at the northeast corner of Paley Library

“For all intents

and purposes, Ali has been cemented into his storefront. I’ve never seen his feet.

”

LETTERS@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM

in silence.

Ali is a relic from when Main Campus used to be a true neighborhood and not a depository for transient suburbanites. Grown men still slip Ali cigars through his window. Students weasel their way to the front of his line to discuss F.C. Barcelona matches. I can’t tell if he likes me more or less than any of his other customers, but – ostensibly – there are few people that care about this community the way Ali does.

It was April before I remembered to bring up his homeless friend again.

“How’s that other Jerry doing?” I asked, glancing up from my phone.

“Really, I haven’t seen him since I mentioned him to you last time,” Ali replied solemnly. “I used to have a photo of him as my phone, my phone–” “Wallpaper?”

“Yes, my wallpaper. But I got a replacement and now the picture is gone forever. At Christmas, I bought him some cigars and a bottle of wine.

They’re still sitting in my shop somewhere.”

“This was a rough winter,” I said. “Do you think he’s…?”

We broke eye contact.

“I am… not sure,” Ali said. “I just hope he is okay, wherever he is.”

At any moment, there are two sides of North Philadelphia perpetually tugging at one another.

There are the courtyards paved with stone to look like medieval streets and there are the yellowshirted cops that keep the Trevors of the world away from them. There are the antennas that catapult my every thought across the sky and the dark alleyways that swallow the sobs of fading men like Jerry and Leonard.

In the middle, there has been Ali. Jerry Iannelli can be reached at jerryi@temple.edu or on Twitter @jerryiannelli.

NEWS

PAGE 6

In The Nation

Continued from page 1

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE NEARING POSSIBLE BANKRUPTCY South Carolina State University is weeks away from running out of money after longstanding debts have gone unpaid and future expenses can’t be paid for, according to the Times and Democrat, a weekly newspaper in Orangeburg, S.C. The unversity’s trustees’ budget panel chairman said in a meeting of the panel that there is a good chance the university will go bankrupt unless the state provides $13.6 million. The Times and Democrat reported the university’s president said vendors have gone unpaid, including one, who he didn’t name, that has threatened legal action.

S.C. State has roughly $6.1 million in outstanding bills since August 2013. The university’s enrollment is 3,807 and an overall graduation rate of 34 percent. The college’s four-year graduation rate is 17 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

-Marcus McCarthy

FLORIDA COLLEGES MAY SOON HOLD MEETINGS IN PRIVATE The Florida state House passed an amendment Friday to the state’s broad public records and open meetings law for universities. If passed, this bill would allow meetings to be held in secret if research projects or funding are topics of discussion.

The bill was passed by the House in a 83-33 vote last month, surpassing the mandatory two-thirds majority needed. The Senate passed the bill Friday in a 36-2 vote and has sent it to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.

Supporters of the bill argue that to require making these research projects public ruins research universities’ competative edge. However, critics are afraid of the exemption being abused.

-Marcus McCarthy

COLUMBIA STUDENTS FILE COMPLAINTS OF UNIVERSITY SEXUAL ASSAULT POLICIES

Twenty-three students filed three complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights alleging federal law violations with Columbia University’s handling of sexual assault cases.

The New York Times reported on April 24 that among the complaints’ allegations, the students wrote the university attempted to silence sexual assault victims and prevent them from reporting the incident to local police on numerous occasions.

Columbia representatives told the New York Times that reforms to the sexual assault policies and procedures are still underway since being announced earlier this year.

The Office of Civil Rights has not announced if it will investigate the complaints.

-Marcus McCarthy

CAMPUS ASIAN STUDENTS ASSOCIATION SUBJECT TO RACIST JOKE

The Temple Asian Students Association released a statement on the univeristy’s response to an allegations that a racist joke was posted to a form used by the group through its Facebook page.

The ASA said that an unknown individual signed an online registration to the group’s field trip to the Pan-Asian American Community House at the University of Pennsylvania using the name “Ching Chong” with the email address “pandaexpress@ gmail.com.”

A statement posted to the group’s website states that student leaders informed Student Activities of the post, where it was taken up the ladder.

The students were then told the university would not take action, according to the statement.

“As it has happened once, it can happen again, and the student body deserves a response from the administration that offers concrete support and action,” the statement read.

A spokeswoman for student activites released a statement that said, “We are working alongside TUASA to prevent such an occurence from happening again.”

-John Moritz

GENTRIFICATION Estate at Stenton and Willow Grove Avenues, but soon withdrew, Hilty said.

Hilty said the City of Philadelphia promised to increase funding efforts to clear and clean the land surrounding Main Campus in the 1950s, when President Robert Johnson decided the institution had an obligation to stay in North Philadelphia.

“What happened, of course, was that the bulldozers came in and started knocking down old row houses and buildings,” Hilty said.

The construction and expansion of Temple angered many community members, Hilty said.

“Around 1969, when the community said ‘enough’s enough,’ they sat down and had a simple community negotiation and they tried to discuss the extent in which Temple would expand and not expand,” Hilty said.

In 1969, Temple agreed to stay confined to about a 200-acre campus and give the city some properties that could be used for public housing. President Paul Anderson said the university would not expand west of Broad Street.

“They said Temple should stop extending at the cost of the neighborhood,” Hilty said. “And they did.”

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

is Temple Town,’ or ‘This is Temple area.’ What are you talking about? This town has a name. This is Cecil B. Moore community. Because people are low income or uneducated, people say, ‘Oh, we can just walk all over them.”

While representatives from the community often stress the idea that Temple is displacing members of the community by allowing an influx of off-campus housing, Kaiser said over the past five years Temple administration has invested more than $250 million to “bring kids and keep them on campus.”

Kaiser said in keeping students on campus by building residence halls like the 27-story Morgan Hall and holding a partnership with Elmira Jeffries, Temple has attempted to ease tension with the community.

Anthony Monteiro, a professor who has been the subject of many demonstrations criticizing Temple administration for its community relations, called Morgan Hall a “monstrosity,” while Kaiser said it’s a way to build “up,” rather than build “out.”

UNIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

The year 1950 marked the beginning of the end for Black Bottom community, the neighborhood that surrounds the University of Pennsylvania, named for its racial makeup and socioeconomic spot at the “bottom” of West Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority SHIFT FROM COMMUTER TO ON-CAMPUS HOUS- deemed the area a redevelopment zone, giving Penn rights to the land legally under eminent doING In 2001, under the leadership of President main.

Today, chain businesses like Starbucks, David Adamany, Temple opened 1300 Residence Hall to accommodate 1,044 newly admitted, re- American Apparel, Cosi, Kiwi Yogurt and Taco Bell have infiltrated the area and stand alongside turning and transfer students on Main Campus.

It was two years after the university opened mom and pop businesses.

Student Body President Darin Bartholomew the 472-bed 1940 residence hall, and it would be another 12 years before the university built a new said business growth similar to University City residence hall. The Edge, a privately owned com- would benefit Temple’s community.

“I don’t look at it as good or bad, I look at it plex off-campus, was partially leased by Temple as the market being able to work,” Bartholomew between 2006 and 2013.

In the decade-plus of stagnated dorm expan- said. “Business owners [in University City] saw sion, off-campus housing boomed. University a demand and were able to have flourishing comestimates place the number of students living off- panies, so I don’t see anything wrong with that. If campus at between 7,000 and 10,000, with the that’s the case at Temple, even with private developments, I think they should.” majority coming since 2000.

The gentrification seemingly taking place “A lot of other schools have evolved to a residential campus over 100 years and Temple’s done in “Temple Town,” which is vastly attributed to it over 15, so there’s going to be some growing private off-campus housing reality, does not compare with University City’s growth in commercial pains,” Chief Financial Officer Ken Kaiser said.

As the desire to live off campus rapidly in- business.

While Bartholomew said he does not percreased in the last decade and still increases today, private developers are seizing the oppor- ceive a lack of demand for private businesses near Temple campuses, open tunity to turn deteriorating, retail space and McGonigle abandoned buildings into stuHall has been left vacant for dent housing, greatly increasmonths. ing the original property value “I’ve said for a while, and price in the area. that it’s important that Temple “The temptation for livstudents be spending money ing off campus is it’s a little in North Philadelphia,” Barbit cheaper, and there’s the tholomew said. freedom aspect,” Kaiser said.

While prominent differPrivate businesses and ences in retail are apparent belandlords are not affiliated tween Temple and University with Temple or officially a City, many of the programs part of Temple student housand organizations in place at ing, despite names like “TemKen Kaiser/ chief financial officer the universities strive to reach pletown” and “Temple Nest.” similar goals in reaching out Perhaps the most obvious to the community. growth in private development has occurred West The Sadie Turner Mossell Alexander Univerof Main Campus.

“It’s not something that Temple controls,” sity of Pennsylvania Partnership School, located Beverly Coleman, assistant vice president of in the 19104 zip code, is a K-8 school with a community relations and economic development, community-focused curriculum for students livsaid. “It’s something that we try to engage with ing in the surrounding neighborhood. While it is controlled by the School District of Philadelphia, people and respond to issues that arise.

Beech Interplex Inc. is a nonprofit organi- it receives extra funding from Penn.

At Temple, the Good Neighbor Initiative zation committed to supporting community services, located on Cecil B. Moore Avenue, and reaches out to the community mainly to ease tenprovides housing for both students and members sion between student and community housing. of the community. President Kenneth Scott said Andrea Seiss, senior associate dean of students, he supports commercial development as long as co-chairs Good Neighbor Initiative, a program that stems from the university’s Good Neighbor it is controlled.

Though Temple is not officially affiliated Policy, which was started in March 2011 and with private off-campus housing, the university deals with community service projects and raising hosts several off-campus housing fairs on cam- awareness to avoid off-campus housing conflicts.

“Complaints we were getting with the compus.

“You’re holding housing fairs on campus munity had to do a lot with trash distribution and trying to rent in the community without meeting stuff like late-night partying noise, public urinawith the community,” Scott said. “Saying, ‘This tion, destroying property,” Seiss said.

“A lot of schools

have evolved to a residential campus over 100 years and Temple’s done it 15, so there’s going to be pains.

”

The Office of Community Relations provides direct services to Temple’s neighbors such as educational courses and job-training and placement programs. In addition, the office aims to connect Temple to volunteer opportunities, outreach programs and partnerships, provides direct services to Temple’s neighbors and occasionally partners with the Good Neighbor Initiative.

Coleman said that her office is typically the first point of contact between the university and the community.

When Temple took a community service inventory in the 2011-12 fiscal year, administration attempted to gather reports of how much money was given to community commitments. Though they found it to be roughly $4.32 million, Coleman said this was “extremely underreported,” because only eight of the 17 schools and colleges participated in the survey.

“When we budget, we budget at a higher level,” Kaiser said. “There’s literally hundreds and hundreds of lines in the budget, and there isn’t one that says community service because community service could be anything. It could be just volunteering.”

Ken Lawrence, senior vice president for government, community and public affairs, said the lack of centralization in budgeting for community involvement is an issue.

“One of the things we collectively need to do a better job of is put one number on community initiatives,” Lawrence said. “We’ve been trying to figure out a better way to capture everything that Temple does.”

Professor of geography and urban studies Roman Cybriwsky said the Office of Community Relations has implemented programs that could help the neighborhood, but he believes that the lack of involvement and awareness is problematic.

“There is this office of community relations, but they keep what they do away from us,” Cybriwsky said. “I think Temple has the opportunity to be really creative and try to make it a win-win for the neighborhood and the needs of the university community, too.”

AN ONGOING CHANGE

Closer to Main Campus on Cecil B. Moore Avenue, President Kenneth Scott of Beech Interplex, Inc. said that Temple has improved its awareness to community voices.

“We disagree and we disagree loudly,” Scott said. “We go to the board meetings and we let them know what we think. It’s gotten better. The city has really slowed down in turning over public property to private developing.”

City Council President Darrell Clarke, whose Fifth District encompasses much of Main Campus and the western areas where students live, has had a varied relationship with Temple during his years in City Hall. In 2011, Clarke sponsored a bill that would prevent property owners from renting to full-time students within much of the area currently considered to make up Temple Town. However, Clarke also supported the development of the Avenue North retail and entertainment complex, which was constructed along Broad Street as part of Temple’s 20/20 plan.

Clarke supported PACENET, a property tax deferral program that provides financial protection to long-time community residents. In addition, he attempted to pass a bill to create to North Central Improvement District, which would have private developers and Temple pay the city to clean blighted neighborhoods around Main Campus. Clarke’s office did not return requests for comment.

Cybriwsky said that whether Temple is giving property to private developers or developing Main Campus itself, change is inevitable in an urban setting.

“We have radical change all the time,” Cybriwsky said. “And what we have lost to change is not just the neighborhood and the poor, but also glorious architecture and so on. Because business runs things. And change is normal.”

Emily Rolen and Claire Sasko can be reached at news@temple-news.edu.

Held online, hope for Owls on the Hill Lobbying excurison scheduled for Tuesday, April 29 canceled due to finals.

JOE GILBRIDE The Temple News Owls on the Hill Day, an annual excursion that sent students to lobby in Harrisburg, was recently canceled

by Temple after students responded that the date’s proximity to final exams would make it too difficult to go.

The trip was scheduled for April 29, and several Owl Academy sessions were held to train students how to effectively lobby elected officials for greater state funding for the university.

Andrew McGinley, public affairs and policy manager, helped organize the sessions and the expected trip. McGinley said students responded early on and made it clear there would likely be a scheduling conflict.

“We proceeded anyway,” McGinley said. “Students were eager to be there and learn about the process.

We wouldn’t have planned it if we thought no one would be able to go.”

In lieu of sending students to Harrisburg, McGinley said electronic personal messages will be sent to every state legislator. The new event, called Virtual Owls on the Hill Day, began Tuesday. McGinley hopes, despite students’ absence from physically speaking with legislators, that the messages can be even more effective than the originally planned trip.

He said those wanting to send notes will be provided with talking points to effectively craft a message in “ways that share the Temple story and make it personal.”

Additionally, he said the electronic messages will allow more people to advocate and get their story out to legislators than if they had taken the trip to Harrisburg.

In 2011, after Gov. Tom Corbett announced a 50 percent reduction in appropriations for state-related universities, McGinley said Temple saw the most political action yet.

“We sent 20,000 messages that year,” he said. “That’s much more than one visit to the capitol would have done.”

As a former aide to state Rep. Matt Bradford, McGinley said he knows what it’s like for legislators to get messages from advocates.

“They read them, they see them,” he said.

The software used for Virtual Owls on the Hill Day allows users to search elected officials and message them directly. McGinley said it was made to be a simple process available to everyone.

As part of Cherry and White Week, McGinley said there will still be a student presence at the capitol despite Owls on the Hill Day’s cancellation.

“There’s going to be researchers, a music group, and many more students, all interacting with elected officials and getting their message out,” McGinley said.

Joe Gilbride can be reached at joseph.gilbride@temple.edu.

LIVING

owlery.temple-news.com

SWEATSHOP PROBLEMS

SAYING GOODBYE

Columnist Toby Forstater believes Temple should end its relationship with JanSport in light of ethical concerns regarding its workers.

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Columnist Monique Roos reflects on her semester in America and recommends that more students appreciate diversity.

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TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

MODERN COURTSHIP

Guest columnist Kate Reilly argues students should do more to have unique dating experiences and worry less about money spent.

ONLINE PAGE 7

A cut above the rest A fraternity from Fox participated in Philly I-Day by shaving their heads.

PAIGE GROSS The Temple News When sophomore actuarial science major Mary Grace Sear pictured herself attending her organization’s Gamma Gala on April 9, she knew it would be a formal affair.

A shaved head was not part of her plan.

Even so, Sear didn’t shy

away from her most recent charitable action through one academic fraternity in the Fox School of Business.

The Sigma chapter of Gamma Iota Sigma is a student professional organization in the Fox School of Business with more than 500 members that has connections with professionals in the industry. The group is primarily focused on risk management, insurance and actuarial science.

Thirteen Sigma members, including the president, senior Elizabeth Mattox, shaved their heads this month to show support and awareness for child-

hood cancer. Next year’s president, junior Steven Costa, also participated.

The 13 members raised $5,700 for St. Baldrick’s Foundation – a volunteer-driven charity dedicated to advancing research on a cure for childhood cancer – during the Insurance Society of Philadelphia’s Philly I-Day on April 9 in the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

“It was hard to picture myself all dressed up with a bald head,” Sear said. “But I think it’s such an amazing organization, and I was excited to be a part of something that would

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Officers of the academic fraternity Gamma Iota Sigma-Sigma shaved their heads during Philly I-Day to raise money for children battling cancer. | KRISTEN VANLEER TTN

Full-time student, mom Alumna Tyler

Brittany Redfern will graduate this May with the sociology degree that she pursued while raising her son.

expands jewelry business Marisa Lombardo uses her first major, jewelry making, for her business.

ALEXA BRICKER The Temple News

Brittany Redfern holds her son John Brice Jr., who was born during her junior year of college at Temple. | ANDREW THAYER TTN

JESSICA SMITH Asst. Living Editor

W

hen sociology major Brittany Redfern steps foot on Main Campus at 11 a.m. every weekday, she said she is strictly in student mode. Like

any other senior, she attends classes, works on finalizing her capstone project and counts down the days until graduation.

At 5 p.m., Redfern leaves and heads to Chestnut Hill to pick up her 2-and-ahalf-year-old son from daycare before going back to their home in Fern Rock.

That’s where she clocks in for her favorite job as John Brice Jr.’s mother.

“I found that splitting myself in two is the best balance for him,” Redfern said. “Once I get home and get my son home, I don’t turn on my laptop or open my books. I just worry about being a mom.”

But that doesn’t mean Redfern can’t multitask.

Even as she speaks, she simultaneously bounces her son on her lap, wipes ice cream off his face and plays an Elmo video on her iPhone to distract him from boredom. When he accidentally knocks

REDFERN PAGE 18

Inside the classroom | poetry of place

Poetry class will explore city A new class available this summer will take students throughout Philadelphia to write.

CLAIRE SASKO The Temple News Pattie McCarthy doesn’t think writing needs to be done alone in a room. That’s why the creative writing professor is taking students off campus to write poetry this summer.

A poet herself, McCarthy will teach Poetry of Place,

an introductory-level English course, during the first summer session. Students will travel to locations in the city that are mentioned in the work of established Philadelphia poets, like Jenn McCreary and Ryan Eckes.

“I think that a lot of the time when we’re students and we’re thinking about poetry, so much of that is inside the classroom,” McCarthy said.

“Thinking about this workshop is a way to get poetry out of the classroom and into the city.”

The class is a traditional workshop, meaning that students will share their own work

LIVING DESK 215-204-7416

and critique the work of other students. McCarthy said she hopes the workshop will foster discussion about the importance of settings in poems.

“The place in which you write something features in what you write,” McCarthy said. “Poems are not necessarily always just something that happens in the poet’s head.”

McCarthy has planned two trips for the class so far, one including a stop at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She said it’s important that poets utilize their surroundings, especially if

POETRY PAGE 16

Pattie McCarthy will teach Poetry of Place as a summer class. | COURTESY PATTIE MCCARTHY

LIVING@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM

It was the 2011 holiday season in New York City when Marisa Lombardo walked into Rockefeller Center planning on an afternoon of ice skating.

When she saw the Anthropologie store window display on her skates, she noticed mannequins adorned with her jewelry line, The Artemisian.

The 1999 Tyler alumna has always had a passion for jewelry, but after her first two years of college as a jewelry major, she decided that a fine arts medium would benefit her more. She moved from where she was studying abroad in Scotland to Temple’s Rome Campus.

“I took a printmaking class and it felt freeing to me,” Lombardo said. “Printmaking was really attractive because I was still working with metal. I went into printmaking at that time and at that age because I felt like I needed the freedom of a fine art.”

While in Rome, Lombardo said she was greatly influenced by the wife of one of her professors, who went on to inspire Lombardo’s later-established line, The Artemisian.

“I noticed that everyone that had been in America that had come to Rome couldn’t find the same materials they were using,” Lombardo said.

“I remember [my professor’s] wife told us to narrow our scope and create from that place, as opposed to saying I need this, I need that. It was really important in my development as an artist, and for this collection.”

Her relocation to Rome and the influence of her professor’s wife returned her interests to jewelry. Lombardo said the pieces she uses in her work often come from items she finds

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TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

Continued from page 1

COUNSEL

while Temple offers a number of support systems through administration, addressing mental health relies just as much on establishing an inclusive environment – they said that responsibility falls on not only faculty, but also their peers.

“One of the

best things I can do is write a really good paper because I have a really distinct voice.

[Medication] essentially kills that voice.

NORMALIZING MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS

Tuttleman Counseling Services, located on the fifth floor of 1800 Liacouras Walk, houses Main Campus’ most extensive resources for mental health. This includes individual counseling, group counseling, psychiatry and the Self-Help Center, a space run by senior psychology students that allows students to treat their own symptoms.

In the 2012-13 academic year, TCS provided individual counseling to 2,474 students, according to TCS records. As of April 17, TCS has already passed this number with 2,777 students in the 2013-14 year.

Director of TCS John DiMino attributed some of this increase to additional funding and, subsequently, staff.

“The longer students have to wait for services, the less likely they are to show up to their initial intake appointment,” DiMino said.

He said since TCS hired more staff members, the average wait time between a walk-in appointment and the first counseling session is between one and two weeks. DiMino called this wait time short enough to help more students receive necessary counseling.

During DiMino’s 18 years at Temple, he said the number of students who utilize Tuttleman’s services has quadrupled, much of which he attributes to advances in medicine.

“Improvements in psychotropic medications have allowed more students to come to college who wouldn’t previously have been able to,” DiMino said.

In addition, he cited factors like lowered stigmas surrounding mental health issues and new stressors in students’ lives, like student debt.

Sharon, a junior fine arts major diagnosed with bulimia nervosa, agreed with DiMino that the millennial generation faces unique difficulties. She also cited debt and the economy, saying she felt a “constant state of fear” about the rest of her life.

For students who need immediate help, Tuttleman offers emergency mental health triages that extend past the center’s normal walk-in hours for students who feel they are in crisis.

The Wellness Resource Center, located in the basement of Mitten Hall, also offers immediate attention to students who feel their health – mental or otherwise – is at risk.

Kim Chestnut, the WRC’s director, said these meetings are called “health consultations.”

“We haven’t entirely normalized mental health conditions,” Chestnut said.

Chestnut said WRC aims to provide validation and support for those who are suffering from any mental illness and to allow students to develop a treatment plan tailored to their individual needs.

While WRC does not provide long-term treatment, it does refer students to TCS or outside services if the student feels he or she need consistent help. “[An issue with mental health] is normal,” Chesnut said. “We encourage

”

Senior / philosophy major

This Temple student said he is threatened with expulsion if he does not take his medication. | ABI REIMOLD TTN [students] to get support.”

In contrast to TCS’s number of patients, Chestnut said just 37 students have used WRC for a health consultation so far this year, but said that number grows each year. “[Lack of awareness about our services] is a challenge we face every year,” Chestnut said. “We try to communicate and reach out.”

“THEY MADE ME GET RE-DIAGNOSED”

Isabel has been seeing a counselor through Temple’s Tuttleman Counseling Services since 2013. She said she attends individual and group counseling sessions once per week.

“Just to be with people who deal with the same problems that you do makes you feel a lot less alone,” she said.

Isabel also meets with a psychiatrist there, who prescribed her with medication for depression, anxiety, psychosis and irregular sleep patterns.

She said she worried about impacting her brain, but didn’t feel like she had another option.

“It was kind of like sink or swim,” Isabel said. “I needed to try something different.”

Isabel said she considered giving up her prescriptions because psychotropic medications typically take 4-6 weeks to start taking effect, but her symptoms have since become manageable.

However, Isabel acknowledged that prescription medication is not always the most appropriate way to treat mental health conditions, and added that she is “looking forward to the day [she doesn’t] have to take it anymore.”

Andrew, a philosophy major who is diagnosed with clinical depression and borderline personality disorder, said he thinks healthcare providers should be extremely conscientious when prescribing medication for patients.

“They do great things for other people, but it’s a bad idea for me to have pills around that I can take a lot of,” Andrew said. “[When] I took

meds, I tried to kill myself with them.”

In Spring 2011, Andrew spent a night in the hospital after an attempted suicide. He visited TCS after the attempt, but he said he did not find its services adequate after what he had been through. After taking a year off from pursuing his undergraduate degree at Temple and spending a year at the Community College of Philadelphia, he is now set to graduate in 2015.

Andrew said Temple allowed him to return due to his mental health condition, despite his previously low grade point average for which he was on academic probation.

However, he found the readmission process difficult.

“They made me get re-diagnosed,” Andrew said. “The provision for me coming back was that I was seeing a therapist and psychiatrist and that I got prescribed medication and could prove that I was taking it.”

Despite the requirement, Andrew said he won’t take the pills he was forced to have prescribed in order to be granted readmission. While he said he does constantly fear having to leave Temple, he said he feels much healthier off medication and isn’t willing to compromise that.

“One of the best things I can do is write a really good paper because I have a really distinct voice,” Andrew said. “[Medication] essentially kills that voice. Fact is, I’m doing really well, and if that’s not enough for Temple, I don’t really know what is.”

Chestnut said for non-medicinal treatment, WRC offers various activities on a larger scale. Events like Walk a Mile in Her Shoes and the “Vagina Monologues” provide support to students, especially women like Isabel who are recovering from sexual abuse, by allowing them to act as activists for their issues. Both events drew significant student participation and interest this year.

WHEN TO DRAW THE LINE

Students agreed that their school-

work has been directly affected by mental health issues.

Sharon preemptively took a semester off after her ongoing struggle with bulimia nervosa began to negatively impact her grades. She said even though her professors were sympathetic to her situation, “there was only so much they could do.”

Alexander deVaron, a theory professor at the Boyer College of Music, said he does his best to accommodate students who struggle with mental health issues, but finds it difficult to know what exactly a student needs.

“As a teacher, it’s a little bit hard to know when to draw the line,” deVaron said. “If somebody comes in and says they’ve got to have kidney surgery and they’re going to miss three weeks of school, it’s completely straightforward.

With psychological difficulties, it’s so much more difficult to read. I try to do what’s most helpful to the students.”

Temple’s Disability Resources and Services exists to define this line by assisting students with disabilities, including mental illness, with various services such as test-taking accommodations.

However, students have cited difficulties in maintaining confidentiality when providing accommodation letters from DRS to faculty. According to social work student David Harris, it is the university’s “unofficial policy” that students must provide letters from DRS to their professors in person, which sometimes results in initiating private conversations with the students.

In March, Harris filed a grievance against the university for the discrimination he said he received from a professor and DRS Director Aaron Spector when requesting extra time on an assignment due to his diagnosed bipolar disorder.

Harris said his professor called him “an irritant.”

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office on Civil Rights is currently investigating DRS, and Harris said he plans to file suit if the department finds DRS to be non-compliant with students’ needs.

‘IT FREAKS PEOPLE OUT’

A Temple student said she suffers extreme anxiety when faced with writing papers. Often she stares at a blank screen unable to do her work. | ABI REIMOLD TTN

Students agreed that creating a comfortable environment for those with mental health concerns is the responsibility of their peers as well as of administration.

“I’ve had a lot of problems with self-harm,” Isabel said. “I’ve never really been able to go to anyone about it because it scares people. When I self harm, I know what I’m thinking and I know how I feel. And I usually feel embarrassed and sad about it after I do it.

I want to hear, ‘It’s OK, you did it, and you can still stop doing it. Just because you did it today doesn’t mean that you have to do it tomorrow.’”

Isabel said that confiding in her friends tends to result in their fear for her safety and risk of suicide. She said she knows they want to keep her safe, but she wishes there could be better understanding of what she’s dealing with among students her age.

“It freaks people out,” Isabel said.

During National Eating Dis-

order Awareness Week, Sha ron said she felt that although some sororities that hosted awareness initiatives had good intentions, their efforts weren’t addressing issues like bulimia nervosa from an informed perspective.

Sororities posted flyers with taglines like, “Zero isn’t a size” and “Embrace your curves” near the end of February to spread awareness about eating disorders.

“I felt like it made the issue smaller than it was,” Sharon said. “ It just minimizes it into an issue of not liking what you see when you look into a mirror or ‘embracing your curves,’ when I used [my eating disorder] as self-medication. I’ve seen people die from it. It’s more complex than that.”

Andrew said he experienced an unexpected reaction during his time at the Community College of Philadelphia. He said though he felt comfortable sharing that he had a disorder, his peers “coddled” him to almost a demeaning extent.

“They thought I was oversensitive, and that’s not what it is,” Andrew said.

ACCEPTANCE AS A SOLUTION

Owen, a junior music ma jor, has a disorder, but said he feels he is not always included in the conversation. His Asperger Syndrome makes social interaction challenging at times.

Owen said that for much of his life, he struggled with self-criticism because he didn’t fit in with his peers, which eventually resulted in a depression diagnosis. He said it wasn’t until recently that he began to accept his Asperger’s as a part of himself.

The ability to take ownership of his mental health status has been an incredibly empowering experience, Owen said. Students agreed that the lessons they have learned through their experience with mental health problems make them proud, even if their diagnosis isn’t viewed positively.

The mental health discussion has become more far-reaching in every direction, and while some still regard mental health conditions as weaknesses, students like Isabel, Sharon, Andrew and Owen disagree.

Students with the same diagnosis experience their situations differently and have varying needs, as well as opinions on mental health treatment.

However, students agreed that a societal shift in attitude would be one of the most positive changes for the mental health community. It is most important, students said, that their peers don’t consider them lesser because of their personal experiences with various mental health issues.

“It’s abnormal, but I don’t think it’s a disease that needs to be cured,” Owen said. “I think it’s been essentially shaping me into who I am.”

Grace Holleran can be reached at holleran@temple.edu.

Students who feel they are in need of mental health support can contact Tuttleman Counseling Services at 215-204-7276.

The Suicide/Crisis Intervention Hotline for Philadelphia is 215-686-4420.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

DINING A DIFFERENT WAY

LOOK INSIDE THE RETINAS

Avance, a restaurant in Center City, is attempting to change fine dining with a more relaxed atmosphere while maintaining a high-quality menu.

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Indie punk band The Retinas is in the midst of recording a new album and prepping for an upcoming tour where the band will be making stops down South. PAGE 11

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Naked body, positive image Sarah Bloom, a photographer, created a nude selfportrait project.

KERRI ANN RAIMO The Temple News Sarah Bloom has spent many hours in abandoned buildings – nude.

“People are like, ‘Do you have your tetanus shot?’”

Bloom said, laughing.

A Narberth. Pa., native, Bloom, 44, has been photographing nude self-portraits in abandoned establishments in Philadelphia since 2007, but it wasn’t until less than a year ago that she started utilizing a new object in her photos to drape herself in: long plastic bags.

The use of plastic bags was both a different take on her nude self-portraits and commentary on how she was beginning to feel within society in her ‘40s: “Discarded,” which is also the name of the series.

Now, Bloom is involved in daily photo projects she finds on Flickr, but she said she didn’t always know that photography was her passion.

“When I went to Syracuse [University], I basically got way off track for a long time,” Bloom said. “I feel now like I always was looking for ways in which to be creative, but never really found anything that fit exactly right.”

But photography proved to be the perfect outlet – a push toward digital helped her get started in 2005, when she bought her first Canon Rebel SLR. “I was shooting with a point-and-shoot type camera at gatherings and whatnot, but people were always saying, ‘Oh, you have a good eye,’” Bloom said.

Eventually, she started to join Flickr groups to encourage her. Flickr itself is a form of expression she found interesting, she said, and getting immediate feedback on her photos encouraged her to stick

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Sarah Bloom poses for her series, “Discarded,” in an abandoned building.| COURTESY SARAH BLOOM

Khan Park, a former molecular and cellular biology student, is often found playing guitar in Rittenhouse Square. He dedicates some days to practicing and to performing on the streets in Center City. | SKYLER BURKHART TTN

Picking a Destiny tions like that are very potent as a musician, and I think it’s important for me to be able to materialize those emotions by putting them into music.”

Now, Park makes a living by busking around Rittenhouse Square, 30th Street Station and Old City, as well as performing at events like fundraisers, anniversaries and birthday parties. After CHEYENNE SHAFFER his first gig last summer, he’s played professionally about once a Chief Copy Editor month since.

Although Park gets by on the money he receives from paid lassical guitarist Khan gigs and busking – he said the best Park was performing on times for tips are during warm weatha street corner in Center er and on weekends – life as a musiCity one afternoon when cian can be financially difficult. he was approached by a man from “I’ve had to figure out ways to the Curtis Institute of Music, who make my budget lower, like finding told him he tries to teach his students the cheapest rent around,” Park said. the way Park plays tremolo. Park “It’s not easy, but it’s livable.” was surprised and flattered, he said, Despite the challenges, Park said because he’d only been playing the coming to Philly has been a crucial instrument for seven months at the learning experience for his career. time.

“I knew how to play one song Before beginning guitar lessons before 2012 and now my repertoire in the fall of 2012, Park studied mois up to an hour, including my own lecular and cellular biology at Bryn Khan Park practices guitar. He has made a living out music, classical pieces and my favorAthyn College. He put his collegiate of busking. | SKYLER BURKHART TTN ite music, so I’d say I’ve improved plans on hold in December of that exponentially since [moving here],” year, however, to pursue a career as a musician in Philadelphia.

Park said.

“Music has always been something I wanted to do full-time Musically, Park said he’s most influenced by Spanish classiwhile I’m young,” Park, 27, said. “Desperateness and other emoPARK PAGE 11

Street musician Khan Park puts college on hold to move to Philadelphia and pursue a career through performance.

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ARTSandENTERTAINMENT@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM

A collision of culture: the house show scene DIY culture is beginning to expand from basement shows to living room concerts.

DAVID ZISSER The Temple News To Kill a King, an English folk rock outfit, is gearing up to play a litany of festivals this summer. Included on the itinerary are Belgium’s Pukkelpop, Germany’s Hurricane Festival and the UK’s Lubstock.

The band will be sharing the stage with the likes of OutKast, Slowdive, Arcade Fire and a slew of others. However, last March, the quintet was setting up shop to perform in a quaint Fishtown living room.

At the behest of Sofar Sounds Philadelphia, a global organization dedicated to bringing intimate shows to people’s homes, To Kill a King performed to a crowd of cross-legged living room goers.

Quite a few stops away on the Market-Frankford line in University City, Nashville’s Bleed the Pigs performed at the Golden Tea House. A power-violence quartet with an afro’d female vocalist and a penchant for start-stop blast beating nuttiness, Bleed the Pigs sped through a set that captivated and brutalizes, as lightning-fast shredding intertwines with sludgy breakdowns. But not before they experience a litany of technical difficulties.

Casualties of the performance include two guitar heads and a cabinet. The four-piece spends more time fumbling with equipment than it does pulverizing. Still, the performance persists, and everyone is more than willing to lend a hand.

Surprisingly enough, the two sects of do-it-yourself seem to exist entirely unaware of each other.

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TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

It’s time to ring the bell A closer look into “Cheesesteaks and Chairshots.”

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ith graduation two weeks away, this is my final contribution to The Temple News.

My first assignment at the start of freshman year was to cover a presentation in some old man’s house on 49th and Walnut streets about race relations in America.

Riding the subway that far was terrifying, John Corrigan but I felt Cheesesteaks like a real and Chairshots r e p o r t e r.

I had my pen and notebook and student ID because I was legit.

Then I found out the piece would only run on the website, and I was furious that my effort wasn’t good enough for the newspaper.

A couple years later, an article I wrote ended up going viral and changing my life.

My naiveté should have wavered during my time at Temple, but if it had, you wouldn’t be reading this pro wrestling column right now.

It took three years to convince an editor that the neverending saga of the squared circle would interest readers.

Finally, Patricia Madej gave me the chance to write about my favorite hobby last summer. With Philly’s history as a wrasslin’ hotbed and my insatiable yearning to meet these larger-than-life characters, the supply of stories never ran out. Pat granted me carte

blanche every week to produce pieces that engaged the wrestling community. I’m eternally grateful for her trust in me and hope that we can work together again someday.

Plus, she’s definitely converted to the WWE Universe, so mission accomplished.

I also believe our Editorin-Chief Joey Cranney being a diehard fan helped this column gain approval. Even though he thinks X-Pac means more to sports entertainment than Lex Luger, Arn Anderson or Raven, I’ve appreciated his support and sent him a fruit basket with my résumé inside just in case Jeff Jarrett skips over my Global Force Wrestling application.

My goal with “Cheesesteaks and Chairshots” was to shed a different light on pro wrestling, maybe break down the “men in tights fake fighting” stigma through anecdotes about the artistry and magic of the business.

I doubt the stigma will ever fade, but it’s been wonderful connecting with fans all over the world, sharing treasured memories about a hair vs. hair match between Chavo Classic and Roddy Piper or venting over Triple H or debating which pay-per-view matches belong in Philly’s “Top 10” list.

I’ve received a few emails from readers looking to break into the business. While I can suggest no better advice than to bombard J.R.’s Twitter, I believe in passing on what I’ve learned over the past four years at Temple.

In order to succeed in any career, you have to work hard, sacrifice personal time and most importantly, stray from the pack. People notice difference. Whether you’re the only desk assistant wearing a bowtie or the only WWE Superstar

pumping your index fingers, do whatever you can to stand out.

College is where you learn who you are and grow to accept yourself. Despite incessant ball-busting from co-workers and ex-girlfriends, I’ve embraced my love of suplexes and steel-cage matches.

Fellow journalism students may snicker when I tell them about my wrasslin’ column, but their eyes would bulge if they saw how many hits “Cheesesteaks and Chairshots” gets.

Find your niche and believe in yourself.

That’s what Miz did.

That’s right, I just surrendered all credibility by referencing Miz as a role model.

It’s my last article – I ain’t scared.

Being a wrestling fan has opened several doors and spawned many relationships.

The Daily News hired me as a paid intern simply because I started my cover letter with “As a lifelong wrestling fan…”

Certainly not conventional, but neither was Diamond Dallas Page creating a yoga empire.

I have forged friendships with so many influences like Bill Apter, Andrew Goldstein, Vaughn Johnson and Spike Eskin.

Ring of Honor, Extreme Rising, Masked Republic, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and even World Wrestling Entertainment have all saved me a seat to report on their events.

Sure, it’s a perk of being in the media, but it also shows how companies throughout the wrestling landscape acknowledge and respect the impact of a college newspaper.

I want to thank Wrestling Observer, Pro Wrestling Torch, ProWrestling.net, Wrestling Inc., Wrestleview, Scott’s Blog

of Doom and 1Wrestling for promoting my column throughout the industry.

I’ve had the privilege of interviewing childhood heroes and current inspirations. From listening to Paul London ramble about gluten-free cheesesteaks for more than 90 minutes to touring Apter’s Alley, this column has provided new treasured memories and somehow intensified my fandom.

My only regret is that former “Total Divas” story producer Michael Wehr suffered professionally for discussing what his job entailed. I’m still proud of that story, but the aftermath taught me how powerful journalism can truly be.

During my tenure with The Temple News, I’ve drawn more heat than John Cena at One Night Stand II. But fellow staffers like Jenelle Janci offered encouragement when even some family members had turned their back on me.

I wasn’t able to visit the newsroom often, but I always felt welcome and part of the team.

Writing for this publication has been the greatest experience of my life.

When I finally force myself to edit the “2010-present” on my résumé, it will be the hardest thing I’ve ever typed.

As Gorilla Monsoon would say, it’s “highly unlikely” I’ll have this type of platform again.

But in a year where the Streak ended, we’re reminded that anything can happen in pro wrestling.

That’s why I’ll always love it.

John Corrigan can be reached at john.corrigan@temple.edu.

food

French inspiration, American dining Avance takes a different approach in redefining finedining.

ALBERT HONG The Temple News When Chef Justin Bogle named his restaurant “Avance,” it was no coincidence. He took the French translation, “to advance,” into consideration.

Avance opened in December and owner Bogle and his staff aim to maintain a new identity with its progressive American cuisine and setting in the face of expectations from the location’s past.

“It means to push forward, to lead, to progress and that’s the goal that we’ve set for ourselves here is to just keep on moving forward and have it be a living, breathing animal that’s constantly evolving,” Bogle said. “We set the tone in the beginning and we have a lot to live up to.”

The restaurant, along with its natural plating style, combines modern and classic techniques to create a changing menu tied closely to the importance of seasons.

This includes using ingredients when they are at their prime and letting local farmers and nature decide what would work best for the menu during the appropriate season.

“We really want to be able to highlight and showcase the products of the season in the best way possible,” Bogle said.

“The restaurant moves with the seasons – the seasons drive what we do here.”

Bogle said that at the restaurant, he and his staff “don’t try to force anything.”

Bogle, a Roxborough native, has been a part of the restaurant business since he was

working as a busboy at 16.

After graduating from the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College, Bogle eventually became an executive chef of Gilt in the New York Palace, where he earned two Michelin Stars.

It was during the middle of last year when he began the process of starting Avance, coming back to Philadelphia to open his first restaurant.

Bogle said one important vision for his restaurant has been to be welcoming to all types of patrons, even if Avance is considered a fine-dining establishment.

“There’s talk that fine dining’s dead and that’s not necessarily the case,” Bogle said.

“It’s just a reinterpretation of it, a modern-day version of fine dining that’s a little more relaxed and little less over-thetop.”

Julie Rock, assistant general manager, said she agreed with Avance’s overall concept and joined Bogle in trying to create something that could even be suitable for the average college student.

“In doing this project, we definitely try to appeal to a little bit of everybody,” Rock said. “There definitely are those polar ends where we have the high-end stuff and the more approachable stuff.”

The downstairs bar, for example, was designed to “stand on its own” with a more affordable bar menu, featuring favorites like the lamb burger to go along with special cocktails.

“The atmosphere’s a little bit more upbeat, a little more casual,” Rock said.

Much like the bar, Bogle said he wants Avance to be able to stand out, not only from its competition but also from the location’s past restaurant, Le Bec Fin. Le Bec Fin had a reputa-

Owner Justin Bogle | PHYLANDRA MCFADDIN TTN tion for being one of the top fine-dining restaurants in the city under Georges Perrier’s ownership. With the history of the restaurant spanning 40 years, the team at Avance has the challenge of breaking free from its past expectations.

This hurdle is made evident with the recent reviews from Philadelphia Magazine and the Inquirer, which were less than satisfactory.

“It really does set the bar a little higher with this famed address we do have here,” Rock said. “We went into it hoping that people would see us as a separate entity than Le Bec Fin, which we are.”

The last thing Bogle wants is comparisons, he said.

“As much as you hope that people aren’t going to compare you to [Le Bec Fin], you can’t help what people think and do,

and a lot of people have kind of stayed hung up on that fact,” Bogle said.

However, the restaurant has already received positive feedback from the public and many of the local industry chefs, managers and friends, Bogle said.

Bogle said he hopes Avance will be able to surpass people’s expectations for their dining experience.

“The goal is to dedicate myself to this place and really put it on the map for what we anticipated and what we’ve set out to do,” Bogle said.

Avance will grill lamb burgers for the Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival on Saturday out on the sidewalk of Walnut Street.

Albert Hong can be reached at albert.hong@temple.edu.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

PAGE 11

The Retinas (From left) Jake Joseph, Anthony Fulginitti, Tom McHugh and John Brennan. | KRISTEN VANLEER TTN

Indie rock band The Retinas works on a new album, preps for tour.

BRIANNA SPAUSE The Temple News Craigslist: it’s like eHarmony for musicians.

But singer-songwriter Tom McHugh wasn’t looking for long walks on the beach – he was ready to stir it up.

One ad searching for serious musicians, an EP and two years later, The Retinas became a rock outfit made in heaven.

McHugh came to Temple with his best friend Jake Joseph, knowing it was meant to be after surviving the awkward years of teen angst together.

They matched up with John Brennan and Anthony Fulginitti, and dove right into the basement punk scene, where they could dance it all out.

But the city limits can’t hold The Retinas down. The band is moving south for its first major tour – 10 shows in

12 days. It starts at Girard Hall on May 15, and will be wreaking havoc all the way down to Louisiana.

THE TEMPLE NEWS: What is the basement culture like?

TOM MCHUGH: It’s very condensed. We get a lot of sweaty, drunk kids pushing into us and punching each other. They are definitely the best crowd that we get.

JAKE JOHNSON: They’re the most honest type of crowd. They feel the music, and mosh and have a great time.

JOHN BRENNAN: It’s the best feeling when you get people to move at shows.

TM: At bars, we’ll have a bunch of people there, and they’re holding their cups next to their face, and it’s kind of awkward for us. Like, please.

You can move.

JJ: But, it’s great eventually cracking them and getting them to sway.

ANTHONY FULGINITTI: When we play really well and the crowd really digs it, that makes you want to play better and then they get more

excited. It is a cool passing of energy back and forth.

TM: A few of the basement shows, especially here in Philly, stand out. I have been pushed over the drum set, things have been broken, equipment comes apart. Those are the best shows.

TTN: What songs do you play that will get people to move?

TM: Off our first EP we have a song, “Life at Work,” and that was probably the first really fast song we recorded.

People really get moving to that one. We’re recording an album now, and a lot of those songs are dance-y and more approachable. We just played in Vermont at a hippie commune. The girls were all dancing outside, and they don’t shave their armpits. There is a much slower pace of life up there. Philadelphia is all on crack, the way the city moves so fast.

JJ: It was very different from the Philly scene, though.

The Philly scene is really intense, and the fans are really excited and almost violent. But we like that. It was more chill

– they sway more.

AF: They were actually dancing, instead of punching.

TTN: Where does the name, The Retinas, come from?

TM: The original idea behind the name was that the retina was the part of the eye that makes you see color. We wanted to take that idea and run with it. After we named ourselves The Retinas, we learned that the plural of retina is retinae. People have corrected us on that a few times.

JJ: It’s just stupid and catchy, and it’s who we are.

TTN: How is your album coming along?

TM: We should be releasing the album in mid-May. We have our own recording studio in Kensington. It’s a space we have been renting that we turned into a recording studio. We didn’t want to pay for hours, because that’s too much pressure while you’re doing your thing.

JJ: It’s called The Artisan Colony.

TM: Local bands record there and we don’t charge them. Everybody around

here is poor. If we can help people record music, I would much rather [do that]. All of our friends are musicians, so everyone is always starting a new project and recording something new. We’re about that kind of scene.

TTN: Why is it important for local bands to support one another?

TM: Usually with artists, there is a big ego between each other. We’re not really about that. I think people are more interested in coming to Philadelphia to see a bunch of really cool bands rather than everybody trying to be Nirvana.

TTN: How would you describe your sound?

AF: It’s like rock ‘n’ roll, I guess. I like to say ‘Jupiter rock’ just because it throws people off. We like the rock genre, with a little bit of punk mixed in.

JJ: It’s really alternative.

It’s got a lot of Replacements, The Strokes and Velvet Underground influence. But it’s staying original.

TTN: What is your band dynamic?

TM: We used to be re-

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 9

UPTOWN

PARK

ater is predicted to be finished in two years and will cost approximately $10 million in construction to complete, Linda Richardson said. On June 20, UEDC will launch a Hall of Fame award ceremony as a fundraiser with CBS 3 on Hamilton Street.

“There are a large amount of people in the city who have Uptown stories who went into the theater, recognized the beauty of the theater, had their first dates in the theater,” Aissia Richardson said. “It reminds people of their youth and hope and possibility and black futures. So that is something we want to bring into this community.”

On a personal level for Linda Richardson, bringing the Uptown to fruition would be a way to extend the Avenue of the Arts into North Broad Street.

“The theater is the northern anchor of the Avenue of the Arts,” Linda Richardson said. “Part of our legacy is the legacy of music and rhythm and blues and how its movement into mainstream [music] began in many theaters across the country like the Uptown.”

The goals of revitalizing the theater remain to make it a self-sustaining institution, a place that will promote and perpetuate the expression of rhythm and blues and give multicultural opportunities for art and expression, Linda Richardson said.

“I have an interest in the vision of those of us in North Broad who are involved in culture and community building to make the Avenue of the Arts a realization on North Broad Street,” Linda Richardson said.

As far as planning, the organization strives to make the voices of the commu-

cal guitarist Andrés Segovia and Sungha Jung, a fingerstyle guitarist from Korea. During his travels around “I think I know at least two-thirds of all the buskers in Philadelphiadelphia,” Park said. “We don’t talk a lot because we know we’re all busy, but we say ‘hi’ and give each other tips sometimes.”

Soon, Park plans to follow some advice he’s gotten from other buskers and play in New York City in spots like Central Park and Bryant Park to earn more money.

While he said he’s primarily devoted to furthering his music career, Park has other aspirations he’d like to accomplish eventually as well – including returning to college to study biology.

“I just love science,” Park said. “I want to know the answers to questions such as where human beings are from and about the origin of the universe. The knowledge of biological science is fascinating, so that’s what I’m going to study if I return any time soon.”

Park said he views both science and music as ways to better comprehend his everyday experiences.

“If I have any understanding of any speculations on life, I understand them through music and through biological

Mother and daughter duo Linda and Aissia Richardson seek to revamp the historic Uptown Theater on Broad Street.| SASH SCHAEFFER TTN nity stronger and more influential in citywide community planning. UEDC is also a registered committee organization through the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.

“What happens in the citywide planning, the opinions and feelings [of the community] are taken out of the plan,” Aissia Richardson said. “As a community organization and as community activists, our job is to make sure that the visions of the community stay in the plan and the voices of the people that actually should be the beneficiaries of that planning are heard and codified in any documents that say what should be happening in this neighborhood.”

Programs initiated by the UEDC include Uptown Youth Got Talent, a job readiness and skill-building program for young people that focuses on science,

technology, engineering, arts and math.

Both women noted that even though saving the Uptown is their central project, Aissia Richardson said they are working toward accomplishing many goals that appear to be necessary to the community members themselves.

“One of the things that is really key in working in disenfranchised and often disempowered communities is that people think, ‘Oh they don’t care. We can do anything to that community,” Aissa Richardson said. “We can destroy it. We can put a train station there. We can put a university there. We can put student housing there.

People don’t care.’ But people do care and they can voice their opinions.”

Emily Rolen can be reached at emily.rolen@temple.edu.

ally serious about practicing five days a week and always recording. Within the last four months, we have been taking it easy because we were really overstressing ourselves. The songs are just flowing because of that.

JB: It’s easy, because the four of us know how to react to one another. When one of us has an idea, we all jump on it and just work it out as a band.

JJ: We have been together for two years now, and over that amount of time you really just get into gear and know how things work. It’s more feel now than it was tactical.

TTN: What sets you guys apart as a band?

JJ: We’re away from the pop-punk phase, the emo phase and all of that nuance stuff that we think is kind of crap. We’re more honest – bare bones, plug into your amp and play.

JB: We’re not trying to prove anything. We just play and let the audience decide whether they like it or not.

Brianna Spause can be reached at brianna.spause@temple.edu.

concepts,” Park said. “They are intertwined in my brain somehow.”

Park also hopes to become a published author of two books. The first will be centered on his life in Philadelphia, as “part memoir, part love story,” and the second is a science-fiction novel, which he said he’ll focus on after finishing the memoir this winter. “[Writing a book] is something I have to do before I’m 30,” Park said. “The times that I’m inspired to write poetry or any kind of essay come very occasionally, but when those moments strike me, I love it.

I can’t make comparisons between writing and music, but if I had to choose one of them, I’d choose writing. Life happens once, so I want to do both.”

For now, though, Park plans to continue studying music and playing guitar, whether it’s on a street corner, at a party or in a venue.

“There are stages of learning music,” Park said. “The first is to be able to play the music, like memorizing notes and everything, and the second stage is to [recognize what] you’re feeling from the music and be able to play that.

When you’re playing it, those are pure, happy moments, and that’s what I love about music.”

Cheyenne Shaffer can be reached at cheyenne.shaffer@temple.edu.

PAGE 12

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

(Top) Greensgrow West, a farmstand, sits in an empty lot on 49th and Baltimore streets. (Bottom left) Graham Major and Sarah Marasco choosing and smelling plants last Saturday. (Bottom right) Marasco chooses plants for her garden at the newly opened Greensgrow West. | KATE MCCANN TTN Continued from page 9

BLOOM

with it.

When Bloom was invited to join a Flickr group revolved around taking a different selfportrait every day for a year, she thought it would interest her for a few days, but never would have guessed how much she’d enjoy it.

“I figured I’d last a week, honestly,” Bloom said. “I just joined it on a whim and was like, this will last a week, tops. But I got really into it. It just clicked… as lame as that is.”

Now, with her ongoing series, “Discarded,” although not daily, Bloom has shot in a dozen Continued from page 9

DIY

“I think it’s rebelling against mainstream and rebelling against your parents even—like, punk.” said Anthony Perill, former housemate of the Double Deuce, a punk house situated in the heart of Main Campus. “That’s how I always looked at it. Just the fact that s---’s going on is so bizarre.”

There are several entities that exist to bring living room shows to Philadelphia. Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia, an offshoot of the larger organization Sofar Sounds, is a stalwart. Carolyn Lederach, a 25-year-old freelance music consultant, is the organization’s event coordinator. She said she believes that what it offers is good for both performer and audience. “[It’s] just the idea of giving an artist an intimate space to perform where they not only know that they’ll have a set in crowd already, but also that the people who are there actually wanna be there just to be there and listen to music,” Ledearch said. “And not at a bar where people talk over people playing. That’s kind of the main goal we work off of.”

Sofar Sounds is a global entity that exists in more than 40 cities. The lineups for events staged by Sofar generally are not announced.

International acts such as the aforementioned To Kill a King and Prides have been brought to various Philadelphia living rooms at Sofar Philadelphia’s beckoning.

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or so abandoned locations throughout Philadelphia. The city is historic, raw and gritty, she said, which feeds into her intentions behind the photographs.

Bloom said these self-portraits within “Discarded” are significant in terms of her age and how she feels as a woman.

“Entering into the ‘40s and feeling still unsure about so many things and feeling that sense of running out of time – I mean, I’ve always kind of felt that way,” Bloom said. “But it intensifies at this age, and it’s just a really weird age to be in, especially as a woman, and the way society treats women at this age.”

Bloom said her favorite experience within the “Discarded” series so far was at an aban-

On the other end of the spectrum, Philadelphia’s house show scene is less homogenous.

There’s a hodge-podge of groups and individuals keeping the movement alive. Guild Shows operate in both basements and sanctioned venues, and bring a bit of order to the madness. But for the most part, there is far less formality.

Price point is another place where living room shows and the prototypical DIY house show begin to deviate. Gigs put on by Sofar Sounds, according to Lederach, come at the cost of a $10 donation. However, this is not across the board.

Last fall, Cotton Jones—a two-piece psych act—staged a tour consisting of living room shows. Admission was placed uniformly at $15.

“I don’t think we had a show that was more than $5,” Perillo said. “It was $5 every time. I just think charging $15 for a band that’s playing at your house when you can just go to Union Transfer doesn’t make any sense. I don’t understand it.”

However, despite differences in prices, there are similarities. In the case of Sofar Sounds as well as the Double Deuce, all proceeds went to the bands.

Additionally, both of the two institutions rely entirely on the hospitality of music-loving strangers.

“Finding hosts is still a challenge most of the time,” Lederach said. “We try to switch up places but we have repeated spaces, too. Most of the hosts have been people who have come to the shows and just wanted to open up their house.

We’ve had other musicians open up their house.

doned factory in Philadelphia.

“I was just so happy with that first shot,” Bloom said.

This particular photograph, titled “Essentially Discarded,” shows the back of Bloom, collapsed in the fetal position on a filthy, glasscovered floor. “Starting the series with that… I just felt like, ‘Oh, I’m onto something. I like this direction.’”

Once she enters an abandoned building, Bloom scopes out specific locations within it – most importantly, where there is good natural lighting, because she doesn’t bring any lighting equipment along with her.

Whether with her daily self-portraits or for “Discarded,” Bloom said she wishes to grapple

with themes of identity through photography.

“There are advantages to having someone model for you, obviously, because you’re looking through the camera the whole time – you can say, ‘move your leg lower,’ or whatever,” Bloom said. “But I think the process of posing, for me, and seeing what I get, is something that I also get a lot out of – seeing myself in different ways. I’m also just fascinated by the notion of identity and how we present ourselves and what people see.

No matter how we present ourselves, people see something different.”

Kerri Ann Raimo can be reached at kerriann.raimo@temple.edu.

Philly’s house show scene has evolved from punk basement shows to living room concerts extending across various genres. | AMANDA WATKINS TTN It’s just been varied people that are into the music that have wanted to be a part of it.”

But perhaps most importantly, both scenes find common ground when it comes to a sense of community.

“I think any time you bring a group of people together — no matter the circumstance — there’s definitely a sense of community,” Perillo said.

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Lederach seemed to concur.

“We’ve never had issues with people. Everyone’s pretty friendly to each other, since I guess they’re all there for the same thing. They can kind of bond over that stuff.”

David Zisser can be reached at zisserd@temple.edu.

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TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

PAGE 14

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

DIY success found in audience Philly’s house show culture boom stems from participation.

O

n April 22, Philadelphia rockers The Menzingers played a last-minute album release show at the Golden Tea House in West Philly.

The show was announced early in the day for that night. Within 14 minutes of the doors opening, the show was sold out, packed wall to wall with sweaty punks.

For me, it’s awesome that this kind of energy exists.

For example, one of my faJared Whalen vorite Facebook Concrete comments from a Colored fan on the GoldBasements en Tea House’s initial announcement of the show read, “We're driving four hours and breaking a kid out of school ‘Ferris Bueller’ style to make this. Hope we get in.”

So as the semester ends and everyone’s minds avert to panic mode as finals begin, it’s worth talking about what that energy can mean for the summer. Whether you are staying in the city or going home to suburbia, there is no reason your Philly angst can’t stick around.

While for some, summer break means beach trips, retail jobs and additional classes, for bands all around, it’s open season to make stuff happen.

Many musicians don’t have empty

calendars just waiting for gigs to fill the dates.

School and work keep many grounded in their hometown, save a couple high-mileage weekend shows.

Come summer, however, class lets out and vacation days kick in.

Whether it’s cross-country touring, taking the time to write new material or spending a few weeks in the studio, the next few months are a great time to do it.

So what does that have to do with the audience? How does that energy I mentioned play into what bands are doing?

Because the audience is the fuel that drives the scene.

Something that is often lost on people is the importance of the consumer. Think back to Econ 101 for a minute and remember the basic laws of supply and demand. If no one is demanding, what’s the point of supplying?

While we all love the Hollywood image of a couple of friends playing in their basement and getting discovered by Columbia Records off of a YouTube video, it probably isn’t going to happen. Even the modern Internet stars that did get seemingly discovered overnight only did so after they obtained an exorbitant number of plays or hits.

The point is, the audience has to play their role in keeping the scene moving. Nothing is more frustrating for a band than to drive an insane number of hours to a venue to end up playing to the sound guy. Even if you take money out of the equation and pretend that gasoline can be substituted with good cheer and laughter,

The Mezingers played a surprise house show at Golden Tea House in West Philly on April 22. | RACHEL DEL SORDO TTN you can still imagine the irritation of performing to an empty room.

Most local musicians that I’ve encountered are realists. They aren’t playing house shows so that they can jump on MTV the next day. They play them because they enjoy doing so and they want the audience to find enjoyment in their music as well. Bands don’t record new music because its members think it will make it on Billboard, but because they have a passion and want to share it.

But part of being a realist is knowing when no one cares. And that reality can stop those creative dreams pretty quickly.

So my advice? Show you care.

Attend a show, buy – or at least download – new music and represent some local band merchandise. Get that fuel pumping for summer.

Philly’s scene is blistering with excitement at the moment. As seen at that Menzinger’s show, the energy levels are up. So go ahead and be a part of it. Jump on Facebook and Twitter and see who is playing where.

Listen to some new tunes. (I recommend Roof Doctor’s new album, “Mobile Freedom Home.”)

If there’s a theme to what I wrote about this semester, it’s that the local scene is not a clique, or a select group of people. Anyone can join the party.

The venues are people’s basements, the musicians are poor college kids and the music is worth listening to.

Whether you want to jump on stage as a musician or jump off the stage as a fan, the floor is yours.

Jared Whalen can be reached at jared.whalen@temple.edu.

Festival teaches ‘there’s no escaping science’ Philadelphia Science Festival shows the importance of the subject.

I

nhale. Exhale. Repeat.

Breathing is all the rage these days, and it’s the remastering of the art that Melanie O’Neill is studying.

After being on my feet for the past 10 hours, I graciously accepted the seat O’Neill offered me in the planetarium of the Franklin Institute – no ifs, ands or buts about it.

“Hold still,” O’Neill said, clipping a small black device to my earlobe, “and take a Brianna Spause deep breath.”

Caught in The kickthe Act off party for the Philadelphia Science Festival on April 25 was a scientific playground for adults, where O’Neill and her colleagues from Widener University were stealing people from the festivities for a few minutes to illustrate the relationship between breathing patterns and stress by using their own bodies.

Who thought biofeedback would be so fun? O’Neill crouched down to my level, giving a play-by-play science lesson as I followed a rhythmic breathing pattern.

Carbon dioxide is a natural relaxant, she said, “and all you have to do is let it go.” It was easier to relax than expected, being hooked up to a machine and all. Starting out with a stress level of 97 – out of 100, ouch

– the looming exams and term papers simply melted away. In just a few minutes, O’Neill accomplished an astonishing feat.

The levels dropped from 97 to 4.

Remember to breathe, people.

The 21+ party wasn’t all about low energy, however. It was hard to tell which was louder – the bustling crowd that came to the event or the startling explosions that could be heard in all directions.

To get things started, Jackie Schnieder and Sarah Rowley gathered a crowd for “Amp It Up,” a competition between the two traveling science show educators of who could make the loudest bang, and the most uncomfortable inappropriate jokes.

In their defense, they usually put on these chemical shows for children – their anatomy jokes were a bit rusty. But the duo made amends with the audience through their explosions. Yelps of excitement and surprise escaped from the crowd as liquid nitrogen popped a balloon, iron oxide and aluminum ignited a few sparks and two tesla coils ignited to play a tune.

“I love getting out there with the crowd trying to build up a really good energy,” Rowley said. “Tonight we really succeeded in that. We make a lot of noise and get the crowd making a lot of noise back. We’re here to get everybody excited about science.”

And the excitement didn’t stop there. I programmed a robot to dance and held severed pieces of brains in

my hands.

“I feel like a kid on a field trip, and I haven’t felt that way in a very long time,” Grace Farber, University of the Sciences professor and attendee said. “It’s being able to talk to people that have such a deep knowledge of what they’re talking about that has made this event enjoyable. I have learned a lot about a field I have spent my life researching, and I am enjoying myself thoroughly.”

Though obtaining cadaver parts for examination isn’t a household experiment, the event offered plenty of ideas to try at home. Volunteers from Temple with TUteach were in attendance, using tape, a bobby pin and the lens of a laser pointer to turn an iPhone into a microscope.

And as a nice party trick, two scientists from University of the Sciences were making DNAquiries. The DNA from strawberries is easily extracted with the enzymes in pineapple juice. When the mixture is added, the DNA separates from the rest of the solution and can easily be seen resting at the top. Then add Baccardi 151 and ice, and you have yourself a strawberry daiquiri.

“It was informative and delicious,” taste-tester Steve Goldberg said.

It was unclear whether the creativity of the experiment or the ability to taste test it afterward was why the vendor was the most popular of the event.

Don’t worry, you didn’t miss your

“[Science]

is all about experiencing the magic of everyday life.

That concept is something that is lost to some in a classroom.

TRENDING IN PHILLY

”

What people FREE COMIC DAY TO BE HELD MAY 3 are talking @Freecomicbook tweeted on April 27 that free Comic about in Book Day will be on May 3 this year. Started in 2002 and traditionally held on the first Saturday of May, Philly – comic book shops around the country will be giving out from news free comic books. and store openings, to music events and restaurant open- FOLKFEST FROM AUG. 15-17 ing. For breaking news and daily @TriStateIndie tweeted on April 26 that the 53rd Annual Philly Folkfest will take place from Aug. 15-17. The lineup updates, follow The Temple News includes bands and artists like Old Crow Medicine Show, on Twitter @TheTempleNews.

the Lone Bellow and Sarah Jarosz with more artists being added. More information can be found on the official website.

chance to get your nerd on. The Science Festival has a hefty list of events planned between the adult-only party on April 25 to the all-ages Science Carnival on Saturday. The free event on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and will host more than 175 vendors.

“The Philadelphia Science Festival is an amazing opportunity for organizations across the city,” Founding Festival Director Gerri Trooskin said. “Scientists, engineers and educators get to come together to say that science is fun. It’s engaging, it’s interactive and it’s important. This is an opportunity to celebrate all of the science that makes this region really fantastic.”

It’s all about experiencing the magic of everyday life. That concept is something that is lost to some in the classroom, surrounded by a strict structure and seemingly impossible core of memorization. But, no matter how hard you try, there’s no escaping science. It’s in the way you breathe, even the way your brain registers the words you are reading at this very moment. In its fourth year, the Philadelphia Science Festival aims to ignite the excitement for STEM that a hands-on learning experience can create.

“Having that hands-on experience is something you miss sometimes,” Farber said. “Having that instruction at your intellectual level helps to make the science of everyday life accessible, and incites a childlike wonder in us all.”

Brianna Spause can be reached at brianna.spause@temple.edu.

OUT & ABOUT CELEBRATING HERITAGE Distrito is celebrating Cinco de Mayo with a Mexican Cultural Week Menu running from May 1-5. For $25, the restaurant will be serving three-course dinners ranging from salsa Mexicana with tortilla chips, enchiladas de pollo and more.

South Philly Barbacoa, the rising food truck serving slow cooked lamb and pancita with tortillas, will have a special pop-up event on May 5 hosted at Tap Room on 19th Street. Along with some drink specials, Barbacoa Chef Cristina Martinez and husband Benjamin Miller will be selling $3 tacos from 6 p.m. until they sell out.

–Albert Hong

POETRY SLAM HELD FRIDAY The Philadelphia Poetry Grand Slam Finals will be held on Friday at the Philadelphia Mausoleum of Contemporary Art, located on 531 N. 12th St. Philadelphia’s best poets will represent Philadelphia in the National Poetry Slam in Oakland, Calif. A workshop will start at 7:30 p.m. before the beginning of the show, which starts promptly at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door.

–Emily Rolen

CHEF CHALLENGE MOVED The first ever Rising Chef Challenge that was originally scheduled for May 3 at the AIM Academy in Conshohocken has been pushed to next April. Hallel Raphael, executive director of the event, said in an email that the event has been postponed “due to some serious technical issues but the organization is still growing and hoping to double the size of the event by next year.”

The Rising Chef Challenge is a cooking competition featuring the best high school student chefs around the Delaware Valley Region who will be judged by guest judges Luca Manfè, “MasterChef” winner and Alexander Weiss, “MasterChef Jr.” winner. Half of the proceeds at the end of the event will go toward Philabundance.

–Albert Hong

Celebrate the best of South Street during South Street’s Spring Festival on Saturday, May 3 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Enjoy live music, street performance, food and shopping along South Street between Front and 8th streets. This event, hosted by The South Street Headhouse Disctrict, is free and open to the public.

–Kerri Ann Raimo

FORECLOSURE ON SUZANNE ROBERTS THEATRE @PhillyMagTicket tweeted on April 26 Suzanne Roberts Theatre, home to the Philadelphia Theatre Company, is being foreclosed on. With only a $5 million budget, the company was unable to make mortgage payments and had stopped making payments in May 2012.

WARHOL HONORED IN MUSICAL/CABARET SHOW @PhillydotcomENT tweeted on April 26 that Opera Philadelphia and the cabaret group the Bearded Ladies will be partnering for a new show next year focusing on the life and work of artist Andy Warhol. "Andy: A Popera" will be a blend of a musical and cabaret show, with pre-musical versions being preformed in July at The Wilma Theater.

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

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TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

Philly inspires poetry course POETRY PAGE 7

(From left) Mary Grace Sear and Elizabeth Mattox shaved their heads to benefit St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which benefits children living with cancer.| KRISTEN VANLEER TTN “When I realized this – that as a chapter we could really do something great for such an outstanding cause – it was not a difficult decision at make such a large difference in these families’ all,” Mattox said. “There was not a single person who did not support me.” lives.”

After graduating in two weeks, Mattox said The students received most of their donations from Fox faculty members, as well as friends and she will begin working full-time at Trion, an employee benefit management firm, family. Sear was the top fundwhere she interns. Mattox said the raiser of the Sigma students who company sent a mass email to help participated in the shaving event, her fundraising. She said Trion’s raising $1,125 with the help of support in her initiative for St. Balfaculty and friends. drick’s Foundation made her feel “[Sigma alumni and faculty] confident in her decision to shave were very generous with their her head. donations,” Sear said. “It’s hard Anuj Patel, a freshman in the to say no to children with cancer.”

Elizabeth Mattox / senior actuarial science program, said he wanted a change of pace from his Many group members said they had reservations about shaving their heads small town, which led him to Temple. Patel was while keeping a professional appearance, but among the “shavees,” and said that he “couldn’t Mattox said she firmly believed that the impact think of a good reason not to get involved.”

R. B. Drennan, chairman of the department the group could make with the symbolic gesture was greater than the superficial reasons holding of risk, insurance and healthcare management, is the faculty adviser for Sigma. Many of the memthem back. bers credit him with convincing them to become involved with Sigma.

“He is a huge help and offers a lot of connections,” Sear said. “He’s full of guidance since he’s been in this community for so long. He is a huge asset to the Sigma organization.”

Sear said students have been asking her about the fundraising event now that her head is shaved.

Sigma will collect donations through the end of the year and continue to donate its proceeds to St. Baldrick’s.

Philly I-Day raised $80,000 total this year to fight childhood cancer. In the last year, $23 million has been raised throughout the country with similar shaving events.

“Being involved in this student organization has and will continue to help me grow professionally and personally,” Mattox said. “I am proud of the fact that I have chosen an industry to work in that is so dedicated and involved in giving back to the surrounding communities and charitable organizations.”

Sigma meets every Wednesday and holds fundraising events on Fridays like bake sales, date auctions and potlucks, from which proceeds go to its philanthropy for this year, another cancer Mary Grace Sear said many students have research foundation called For Pete’s Sake. asked her questions about the fundraising event for St. Baldrick’s Foundation since she shaved Paige Gross can be reached at paige.gross1@temple.edu. her head. | KRISTEN VANLEER TTN

Continued from page 7

SIGMA

“There was not

a single person who did not support me.

”

they’re in or near a city.

“I think that the city, not just Philadelphia, is important in contemporary poetry,” McCarthy said. “Thinking that the urban perspective in poetry is important, so much poetry has been written in and about Philadelphia. This workshop is really a way to look at Philadelphia as material for writing.”

The three-credit course will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon.

Classes start on May 19 and end on June 30. McCarthy said the course is ideal for the summer as it might be more difficult to travel frequently during the school year.

McCarthy said students would likely visit the city on Tuesdays and return to the classrooms on Thursdays. She’ said her goal is for students to develop 10 to 15 pages of new poetry by the end of the course.

English professor Stanley McDonald taught a similar course last summer called Creative Writing: Poetry Workshop. The class met for just one week, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

McDonald said the schedule allowed the class to make frequent trips to the city.

“The administration wanted someone to design a course that was a weeklong but with the same amount of time as a semester,” McDonald said. “So because there were such large blocks of time, they said I could take students off campus.”

McDonald said the class traveled to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to create “ekphrasis” poetry, or poetry that is inspired by existing works of art, like paintings or sculptures.

McDonald said this activity was a class favorite.

“When we went off campus they were very focused on the work that needed to be done, and they liked that freedom of being out in the world,” he said.

Junior secondary English education major Alexander Davies took McDonald’s class last summer.

“I took it because it was convenient for me. I never expected it to be as amazing as it was,” Davies said. “It allowed us to tap into something that

normally takes a while to tap into, but it happened immediately. [McDonald] was giving that freedom to create poetry in your own space, which was really cool and different.”

McDonald said it’s important for students to get off campus.

“It’s a way for them to strengthen their feelings of comfort and understanding,” McDonald said. “You’re thinking about all of the ideas and concepts you’re learning in college out in the streets, and trying to figure out how to apply these ideas to their daily lives.”

Davies said his favorite trips were to Rittenhouse Square and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He said the course was his favorite yet at Temple.

“Being able to stand in the museum and feed off the energy that the artists were giving was amazing,” Davies said. “I’d never written richer poetry than I did that day.”

Claire Sasko can be reached at claire.sasko@temple.edu.

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

Students should be ethical consumers

Temple should terminate its relationship with JanSport due to ethical concerns surrounding working conditions.

R

ichard Rumer, associate vice president of Business Services, said he has a tough job. He said he thinks people like junior political science major Brett Wise from Temple’s Coalition of Students Against Sweatshops are making it even more difficult.

However, Rumer’s claim that Wise is making his job difficult is rather ironic. Those diToby Forstater rectly affected by administraGreen Living his tive actions have some of the world’s worst working conditions. Rumer’s complaints about a tough job don’t seem valid, considering his generous salary, office and vacation time compared to those overseas.

Rumer reviews university logo licensing so companies like JanSport, Adidas and Russell Athletics can use the Temple “T.” But by approving these companies, Temple perpetuates indentured servitude in sweatshops and poor working environments.

This is essentially present-day slavery.

“Unless [companies] change via their own action, we as a university must do something,” Wise said. “This is a time-sensitive issue and the longer we wait, the worse off the people will be and the higher the chances of another catastrophe.”

April 24 marked the first anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh. The major textile factory collapsed, killing 1,127 people. Major structural problems were noted, but ignored.

The textile factory produced for companies like Vanity Fair and others.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to determine where many segments of textiles are made, which Wise pointed out is no accident.

If this isn’t reason enough to demand administration to source more ethically, several weeks later, a factory fire killed seven more workers. It was just miles from the Rana Plaza location.

Students Against Sweatshops is lobbying the administration, including Rumer, to drop the JanSport licensing agreements. It is a subsidiary of Vanity Fair, which engages in unethical treatment of human workers.

“JanSport doesn’t manufacture in Bangladesh,” Rumer said. “Vanity Fair is doing business in Bangladesh, and JanSport [is] their subsidiary.”

Rumer denied that the parent and daughter organizations work closely in coalition. However, Wise said, both are

headquartered together, and searching online for JanSport’s code of conduct links to the Vanity Fair website.

“The university is a member of the Worker Rights Consortium and the Fair Labor Association,” Rumer said.

“We are not aware of any universities across the nation that [have] stopped doing business with JanSport because of their relationship with Vanity Fair.”

Though administration hasn’t decided to drop licensing agreements with JanSport, students can still apply pressure. Students Against Sweatshops noted that Emerson College became the first school to end its relationship with JanSport last month.

“It’s almost like the system is set up to keep people in poverty,” said senior rhetoric and public advocacy major Justin Gorman. “Any hiccup and it could ruin you.”

“Third-world labor is not going to go away overnight,” said senior rhetoric and public advocacy major Justin Nepenthe. “It could be an engine for people to feed themselves and move up the ladder economically. But the way we are using it right now, it’s so unregulated that there isn’t any real good answer to do it properly.”

Nepenthe and Gorman are students working on their capstone course research on ethical consumption. They presented their research in front of concerned students at Temple’s Office of Sustainability.

In response to ethical issues surrounding Vanity Fair, Nepenthe said he felt Temple should pressure the company to improve ethics instead of ending ties, but Wise said he hopes to encourage positive change as well. He said when a number of colleges cut ties with Adidas, the company improved worker conditions.

Last fall, Temple required the licensed logo-bearing brands produced in Bangladesh to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety. More than 150 brands, organizations and several nations like Germany signed onto the Accord.

However, in response to the Bangladesh Accord, JanSport’s owner Vanity Fair, as well as Wal-Mart and Gap Inc., created the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety. In contrast to the Accord, independent inspection or public reports are not required, Wise said.

We cannot just blame the manufacturers for deceiving us. We are partly responsible as well. As ethical consumers, we have choices and must voice our opinions to administration to do the right thing.

Toby Forstater can be reached at toby.forstater@temple.edu.

LIVING Continued from page 7

LOMBARDO on her travels, whether the antiques were originally made to wear or not.

She then reworks the pieces, laying them out on paper and fitting them together like a puzzle until they look right.

“I take all the parts I think I want to use – so chains, stones, charms, et cetera – and I treat [each piece] very much like a large body of work,” Lombardo said. “[The piece] can then be reproduced based on genre.”

The first piece in each season’s collection is always crafted by Lombardo and used as a guide for her employees, who make the rest of the collection. However, she stresses the fine art aspect of her business and said she insists that uniqueness be maintained within each piece.

She said it is also important to her that the line find a balance between reaching a large audience while remaining a high-quality brand that is not sold in every store across the country.

“My pieces have stories,” Lombardo said. “You can buy nice things at places like Target and Gap, and they’re pretty, but mine have stories.”

Though The Artemisian line is spreading worldwide, gaining popularity in Europe and Asia, Lombardo said one of the greatest achievements of the line was being accepted into the PremiÈRe trade show. As a result, Lombardo traveled to Paris in 2011. She also said the relationship she had built with Anthropologie was instrumental in her landing a place in the show.

“My mentor said that [PremiÈRe] was the only trade show I should do,” Lombardo said. “It’s the most avant garde trade show in the world and I got in – once you’re in, you’re in. I put all my pieces together and I had no idea what to expect.”

One of the most important aspects of Lombardo’s time in Paris was to combine the worlds of art and fashion, a trend she said is already developing.

“I live in the world of fashion now,” Lombardo said. “I’m trying to bridge the gap but it’s not even really existent anymore. The worlds have converged.”

PAGE 17 She said she does not want The Artemisian brand to become too commercial, but it’s difficult to find a happy medium between making her jewelry affordable and maintaining that fine-art feel.

“I would like to see the brand continue to grow and I can see getting into finer jewelry – diamonds and gold,” Lombardo said. “But I can also see a kind of diffusion line, where it can be worn by more people.”

Lombardo is not pushed to create jewelry that is trendy or popular during a specific season. She said that right now she is happy creating pieces that speak to people and carry on the tradi-

tions and meaning behind the antiques within them.

“I’ll ride this train as long as it will go, because I love creating,” Lombardo said. “The fact that the pieces are worn and they have this history brought to new people, so the match case that was used by a man in the 1800s is now being worn by a girl in New York City who’s telling the story. Nothing ends and matter always stays around, so this process of adding to the historical context is really fantastic.”

Alexa Bricker can be reached at abricke1@temple.edu.

Marisa Lombardo created The Artemisian, a jewelry line that now appears in Anthropologie stores. | COURTESY MARISA LOMBARDO

While studying abroad, finding the world Temple students should take full advantage of the student body’s cultural diversity.

I

n August, after my summer internship at Temple, my student visa dictates that I have to go back to Brazil. I have to – it’s not something I want to do. I’d argue most international students feel similarly about leaving America.

I think any experience abroad takes place because a student is alMonique Roos ready interested in the country of Foreign choice, but sometimes people are Perspective disappointed when they finally find themselves in the new place. That hasn’t been my experience.

In America, I learned that no matter how available pizza is, my body is not ready for it every day. I can’t buy the biggest bottle of milk, because it will spoil before I can drink it all. And just because the movie popcorn has a machine with free butter doesn’t mean I should add extra.

I fell in love with New York – sorry Philadelphia, it’s just so glamorous – and got caught up in the fast-paced bustle of American city life. But there’s more to studying abroad than those silly details from the country that stick in your mind.

During my time in the United States, my English improved, but it’s far from what I wished it to be by now. I live in a residence hall with about 50 Brazilians. Even though we try to meet Americans, we usually are together and the Portuguese comes naturally and easily for a quicker conversation. Any students considering studying abroad should remember to immerse themselves in the new language – it’s the only way to truly improve your speech.

I’ve worked before in Brazil, but nothing compares to getting an internship when you are a foreign student, especially if some American classmates can’t find one. If an exchange student has the time before their visa expires, they should absolutely look for an internship.

This summer is my only chance to experience an American internship, or any American work environment.

Even though in Brazil we have

the longest lines in public health clinics – sometimes with months of waiting – to have a doctor’s appointment, at least there you’ll still have money to survive the rest of the month. Even to pay for a private doctor, the prices in Brazil are not so absurd. I panicked when I received the bill for routine exams I had done in America. Paying for medicine is something I won’t miss about this country. It’s clearly important to understand the medical system of a country while staying there.

It seems most Americans don’t know much about the rest of the world and there are a select few students who are compelled to discover more. That’s why Temple is an interesting choice for an American student, since there is such a diverse group of cultures here. Temple is a place to study, but it is also a place to discover different parts of the world by meeting students from different countries. Students should take advantage of that opportunity, whether they are American or foreign.

Temple has an organized international studies department with great advisers to help students through their time here. These advisers also organize international student events, like receptions during Temple sporting events, tours and special meetings.

I’ve not only connected with fellow Brazilians, but also Korean, Chinese, Arabic and American friends.

It’s hard to accept that after I leave, it will be difficult to see them again.

Soon, I will be finishing my degree in Brazil and everything will go back to normal – but I don’t want normal anymore. Now, it feels like I don’t belong here or there. It’s like I am a confused teenager all over again and need to find my way in life.

To find some direction, I’ve been making lots of plans for educational projects in Brazil, to help high school students to find their way. I know that no matter how much I try to make my return and the coming year exciting, I will always want to come back. I do intend to find a way to come back to United States, hopefully even to live in NYC. In the meantime, I’ll try to enjoy the time waiting, like I appreciated the time I had here. After all, it’s not always about the final goal, it’s about enjoying the journey – studying abroad has certainly taught me that.

“It seems most

Americans don’t know much about the rest of the world and there are a select few students who are compelled to discover more.

YO Bus Temple Ad.indd 1

2/18/14 3:06 PM

”

Monique Roos can be reached at monique.roos@temple.edu.

LIVING

PAGE 18

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

CLIPPINGS

AROUND CAMPUS 140 CHARACTERS OR LESS Main Campus Program Board will be hosting an event called “#140CharactersOrLess” in Room 200C of the Student Center on Thursday night.

The evening will feature guest speaker Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, and founder and CEO of Jelly Industries.

Stone, the 2009 Nerd of the Year and one of Vanity Fair’s Top 10 Most Influential People of the Information Age, will draw on his social media experience and discuss the key to redefining success.

Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. The event is open to all students and free with a TUID. -Jessica Smith

FINALS MASSAGE Students can take a break from the stress of studying for finals by joining Campus Recreation for late-night mini massages on Thursday night in the IBC Student Recreation Center Lobby.

A certified massage therapist will be giving relaxing five-minute massages from 7-11 p.m.

Space is limited, so students are advised to arrive early for the first come, first serve event. The event is free and open to all.

-Jessica Smith

DAVID GRAY PERFORMANCE

Brittany Redfern researched the disparity in breastfeeding among African-American mothers for her senior capstone dissertation. She will graduate this May, despite being a parent during the last two years of her undergraduate education. | ANDREW THAYER TTN

Redfern examines cultural tendencies of motherhood REDFERN PAGE 7 the phone out of her hand toward to go forward with my pregnancy the asphalt, Redfern laughs with knowing how accessible an abortion only the patience a mother can have was, but realizing that there were reand holds up the cracked and taped sources that would help me be a sucscreen, showing this isn’t the first cessful mom and student.” time it has happened.

Some of her resources included “He’s 2 years old. This is just her former adviser Rashidah Anwhat being a mom is like,” Redfern drews and associate professor of sosaid. “It’s all about adjusting. Ad- ciology Mary Stricker. justment is the biggest thing.”

“I changed my major to sociolRedfern became pregnant in her ogy and [Andrews] told me to talk sophomore year at Temple. Instead to Stricker,” Redfern said. “When I of electing to take time off, Redfern went to her, I was honest and told pushed forward in scheduling her her, ‘Mary, look, I have a son. I reclasses for Fall 2011 and emailed her ally want to graduate, but I can’t put professors to let them know about in the extra hours for [classes] that her pregnancy.

I’m not passionate about.’ She re“My son was due ally helped me pick around midterms,” my classes based off Redfern said. “There that.” was a lot of support Stricker was from my professors. also key in encourHe was born about aging Redfern to exfour weeks early and plore something she my humanities prowas passionate about fessor [Frank Leib] Brittany Redfern / senior for her dissertation, let me bring him to which studied the one exam. John was a newborn so he rates of breastfeeding among lowwas quiet, but most people wouldn’t income African-American women. have let me do that.”

“I found that when I chose to Redfern said that the support breastfeed, the women of my culsystem at Temple was influential in ture and in my social circle treated her decision to stay on track with her it like some obsolete phenomenon,” degree.

Redfern said. “There is a disparity “When I first got pregnant, I among low-income African-Ameriwasn’t in the best of situations,” can women. It was almost as if what Redfern said. “I wasn’t married, I I was doing was the most foreign was a full-time student and I didn’t thing to them, when in reality it’s the have a regular job. I was choosing most natural thing we could do.”

“This is what

being a mom is like. It’s all about adjusting.

”

“In my community, [breastfeeding] is seen as not an option,” Redfern added. “People think they don’t have time for the pump. Breasts are too sexualized and formula seems much easier.”

Redfern said she has been invited to speak at children’s clinics, family shelters and different hospitals, including Pennsylvania Hospital where her son was born, to speak about the necessity of breastfeeding among African-American women.

“I want to show that not only is it possible for us to breastfeed, but we have to do it,” Redfern said.

“We have the lowest rates of initiation, but we have the highest rates of childhood obesity, diabetes and other health concerns.”

Redfern said her dissertation study would not have been possible without her support system at Temple.

“There were times that I was embarrassed that I had a child or I was embarrassed when he was sick and I had to bring him to school,” Redfern said. “But my professors never judged me. They never got sick of my son getting pink eye or having to get shots.”

However, Redfern said she has encountered negative attitudes about her motherhood while attending school.

“I won’t say names, but I did have an adviser in the College of Liberal Arts that told me I wouldn’t

be successful with a baby in school,” Redfern said. “Also, when I was applying to law school, there was an individual that I asked for a recommendation letter and they basically told me they wouldn’t write one because they didn’t see me as being a successful law student and mother.”

Despite this setback, Redfern was accepted to Widener University School of Law and will start classes in August. Redfern said the advisers at Widener were helpful in coordinating a schedule that allows her to keep her son in the same school and pick him up on time.

Redfern said there was no doubt that she would stay in school to pursue an education, and that her son helped her attain her goals.

“This motivation to set an example, to be a mother that my son could look up to kicked in,” Redfern said. “I was never a straight-A student until after I had John. Maybe it was reading the statistics about black males born in low-income families that don’t graduate, don’t go to college and repeat the cycle of poverty.

That’s not what I want him to be.”

He’s the inspiration she said she needs looking forward to law school.

“Yes, I had my son very young,” Redfern added. “But just because you’re a young mom doesn’t mean your life stops.”

Jessica Smith can be reached at jessicasmith@temple.edu.

British singer-songwriter David Gray will be performing at Temple Performing Arts Center Friday night at 8 p.m.

Best known for songs “Babylon,” “Please Forgive Me” and “This Year’s Love,” Gray will be stopping at Main Campus as part of his Spring 2014 tour.

Tickets are on sale now at the Liacouras Center box office.

-Jessica Smith

GAMBLING ADDICTION SEMINAR

On April 30, the Center for Social Policy and Community Development will host a seminar about the traits of habitual gamblers. Catherine Williams from the Office of Addiction Services will host the lecture on the subject matter. The seminar will be held in Room 300AB of Tuttleman Learning Center.

The seminar will discuss aspects of the neuroscience behind gambling addictions, including the balance of risk and reward and how pleasure centers of the brain react to the adventure of spending and gaining money.

Participants can watch the seminar using WebEx if they are unable to attend in person. Continuing Education Credits can be purchased for $17 for those who attend the session in person.

The event will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

-Erin Edinger-Turoff

SMART GRID ELECTRICITY Tarla Peterson, a professor from Texas A&M University, will appear on Main Campus this Thursday to present about the benefits of the new “smart grid” technology used to produce electricity.

The Center for Humanities will sponsor her presentation, held on the 10th floor of the Gladfelter Hall from 5-7 p.m.

Smart grid technology is a proposal created by conservation ecologists that would eliminate significant amounts of waste created as a byproduct of generating electricity.

Peterson will present the benefits of using smart grids, focusing on four main points of reliability and security, the economy, environmental quality and citizen engagement.

The event is free and open to the public.

-Erin Edinger-Turoff

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

“Do you think that

summer classes are useful?

”

JANE BABIAN TTN

“I believe they are. They give students the ability to take classes that they couldn’t get in the fall or spring.

Helps to keep them on track.”

RYAN ROWAN

JUNIOR | CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT TECH.

“I think so because it gives students the opportunity to take classes to soften workload in the regular semesters.”

RANDY SHULER

JUNIOR | BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

“Yes because you can get credits done faster. No because it’s a shorter period of time so can you retain the same amount of information?”

JOHN ROWAN

JUNIOR | ANTHROPOLOGY

SPORTS BRIEFS

Lacrosse drops season finale, spot in Big East tourney LOSS TO RUTGERS ENDS SEASON

Sophomore Jamila Janneh represented the women’s side in the triple jump and got seventh place among 31 competitors.

Both the men’s and women’s team will conclude their seasons this week at the American Athletic Conference tournament at South Florida.

–Stephen Godwin Jr.

In a do-or-die situation Friday night at Rutgers, the Owls needed a win to clinch the final seed in the Big East tournament. But they lost 11–10.

Temple had a 10–9 lead with 7 minutes, 10 seconds remaining, due to a goal from sophomore attacker Rachel Schwaab. But sophomore attacker Kim Kolodny came up with the tying goal for Rutgers with 6:15 left, and then the game winner with 2:39 remaining.

Rutgers was able to run out the clock from there, despite the Owls doing everything they could to get one more possession.

Coach Bonnie Rosen said the game was a tough way to end the season, but said she was proud of her team’s effort.

–Nick Tricome

TRACK & FIELD

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL MACAULAY SIGNS WNBA CONTRACT WITH INDIANA FEVER

The lacrosse team finished its season with a 3-4 record in Big East play. | EJ SMITH TTN

The junior won with a 15.37-meter heave on her last attempt that made her the only competitor with a throw above 15 meters.

“I think the best way to sum it up is satisfaction,” Margo Britton finished first in the women’s college shot put event at the Penn Relays last weekend. Britton said. “Philadelphia has a rich tradition at the

BRITTON BLOWS OUT SHOT PUT COMPETITION AT PENN RELAYS

Penn Relays and to be able to be part of that is exciting.”

Britton also competed in the discus throw competition, but failed to make the finals after launching a 45.69-meter strike.

Victoria Macaulay, who played at Temple from 2009-13, signed a training camp contract with the Indiana Fever.

The center is fourth in career blocks and ninth in career rebounds for the Owls. She played for Lavezzini Parma in Serie A1 in Italy last season, where she averaged 15.9 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.

Macaulay’s contract does not guarantee her a spot on the team. Should she make the team, she will become the fourth former Owl to play in the WNBA. –Evan Cross

football spotlight | khalif herbin

In Cherry & White spring game, Herbin returns to the field Coach Matt Rhule said he expects the wide receiver to be a playmaker this fall.

NICK TRICOME The Temple News Wide receiver Khalif Herbin wouldn’t have picked himself first at the Cherry & White draft.

But the 5-foot-7-inch redshirt-sophomore was the first selection to the White team, while sophomore quarterback P.J. Walker went first to the Cherry team.

Who would Herbin have picked?

“Probably Kyle Friend,” he said.

Herbin and the White team fell 10-9 to the Kenny Harper-led Cherry squad last Saturday at Cardinal O’Hara High School in Springfield, Pa. But the fact that he was chosen first meant a lot to Herbin.

“I could tell how highly my teammates thought of me,” Herbin said. “I was very surprised and I feel like I’ve been working.

I’m not where I need to be by any means, but I’ve been working. I’ve been understanding what my coaches have been teaching me and I’ve been buying in to what they’ve have been saying.”

Herbin was one of 14 true freshmen to see game action in 2012, but he redshirted last season.

“The whole team recognizes what Khalif can do,” coach Matt Rhule said. “You kind of have to find ways to get the ball in

his hands, but as a returner I think he’s going to be special, and that year off, that year of redshirting really helped his body where he can take a pounding like he did today. So we expect Khalif to be a playmaker.”

Last Saturday, Herbin was a playmaker.

Junior running back Jamie Gilmore went up the middle for a 65-yard touchdown run to give the Cherry the first touchdown of a low-scoring game in the third quarter. Then, just a few plays later, Herbin responded.

Herbin took a pass from redshirt-senior quarterback Connor Reilly and ran along the sideline, cutting back in toward the middle of the field to finish off a 66-yard touchdown reception.

“We had ran the play several times before,” Herbin said. “I guess I was kind of hesitating before, but this time I decided to catch it and go.”

In total for the day, Herbin had five catches for 93 yards, including that touchdown pass. But he didn’t get to take passes from Walker, who he has built chemistry with throughout the spring.

“That’s my guy right now,” Walker, who went 15-31 with 172 yards and two interceptions on Saturday, said. “He can make a lot of plays with his feet as well as getting vertical and catching the ball, so he’s going to be a great help that nobody’s really seen yet.”

“I was kind of disappointed that I went No. 1 to the White and he went No. 1 to the Cherry,” Herbin said. “For the last couple of practices in spring ball it’s just been on,

Pickett isn’t directly affected by the athletic cuts as he will soon graduate. Others like tough days and you have to freshman Adam Hassan have roll with the punches and keep been forced to make alternative working hard and make those plans for next year should they bad days good days,” Pickett want to continue competing at the Division I level. said.

Hassan said he is transferIn January, President Theoring to the University of North bald met with coaches and two Texas after the season. Almembers from each cut team. though he will be returning to Coach Eric Mobley brought his hometown, he admits that Pickett with him, who argued he will miss Philadelthat cutting the program limphia.

UP NEXT its the opportu“It’s hard nities for Afri- AAC Championship because I feel May 2-4 at USF can Americans like this was the at the university. first track team where I felt “Football and basketball are the other big programs, like I was a part of a family,” but their roster sizes are pretty Hassan said. “The new team at small,” Pickett said. “Track & Texas will not be able to replace field has a nice balance of exer- the connections I have made at cises and gives a lot of opportu- Temple.”

The Mean Green’s track nities for African Americans to & field team’s schedule does come and showcase their talents not include a stop to the Penn and skills, so getting rid of it is Relays, but Hassan said he relgoing to limit their opportuniished the opportunity to comties.” pete at the relays as an Owl this

Continued from page 22

RELAYS

Continued from page 22

CROSS

backlash at the football team, blaming the program, not a historically successful one, for the cuts.

It’s true that Temple wouldn’t be so far behind in spending if it had stayed in the Atlantic 10 Conference for most

of the sports. That doesn’t mean the move to The American was a bad decision. The administration rightly wants to invest in the football program.

Despite Temple football’s bad reputation, the program can become a winner in the span of a few years. Duke football had three winning seasons in the 30 years before this past season.

and me and P.J. talk every day, have a good relationship. I like playing for a quarterback like that, the coaches as well. When you see how hard the coaches work, it makes you want to go extra hard on the next rep.”

As a freshman, Herbin saw playing time on the return unit in 2012, under the previous coaching staff that was led by Steve Addazio. Last season, Herbin said he didn’t want to redshirt at first.

“But then I just thought about all the positive things that could come out of it,” Herbin said. “Every day I worked out, and I went into the weight room, and I went on scout team, and I worked on my craft every single day and I gave the defense the best possible look.”

Herbin said that him improving his performance in practice would help the team better perform in a game, which made him feel “just as important as anybody else.”

But he admitted that during last year’s spring that he wasn’t completely there.

“I got hit with some injuries and probably wasn’t as focused as I should have been if you wanted me to be honest,” Herbin said. “I kind of swayed away after the spring game.”

“This year I feel like my whole mindset has changed” Herbin added. “I come and watch film and I see the coaches are still there. I’m just like, ‘He’s depending on me to feed his family and I have a free education, so why not?’”

Nick Tricome can be reached at nick. tricome@temple.edu or on Twitter @itssnick215.

year.

“I thought the crowd was awesome,” Hassan said. “They were all cheering and supporting the athletes that made for a very fun atmosphere.”

Although the men’s team will be eliminated on July 1, the women’s team will remain.

Pickett said the cuts affect the women as well, however, as they both balance workouts and inspire one another.

Mobley, who has led both programs since 2008, is expected to return next season. “[The cuts are] very heartbreaking,” Mobley said. “I wish it wasn’t the case, but now we have to take it in and make sure we have some good representation at the meet for our final one and just look back at all the great things that we accomplished.”

Stephen Godwin Jr. can be reached at stephen.godwin@temple.edu.

In 2013, the Blue Devils set a program record for wins in a season, going 10-4, and went to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. Twenty years ago, Boise State wasn’t in Division I. Now the Broncos are widely known, due to undefeated seasons, a miraculous Fiesta Bowl hook-and-ladder and a postgame marriage proposal.

Redshirt-sophomore Khalif Herbin stands on the sidelines during the Owls’ Cherry & White spring game last Saturday at Cardinal O’Hara High School. | TIMOTHY VALSHTEIN TTN

than a decade – a disease that has slowly limited White’s ability to walk.

With the program on the chopping block for two months, White said it was a big distraction to him and for the program.

He was away from the team for about a month earlier this year after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair two meniscus tears.

While White occasionally feels pain when he turns his knee, he now describes it as “tolerable.” After visiting the doctor on a weekly basis, White is now scheduled for an appointment once every two months.

“It feels better than it was,” White said. “It feels better weekly. In a couple of months [the pain] will go away.”

With only two members of the team graduating, White said he would like to see what

the young team will be like as seniors. After the cuts were announced, White emphasized the strong group of underclassmen as one of the most painful aspects of the timing of the announcement.

“That broke my heart,” White said.

Throughout his four years in the crew program, co-captain Fergal Barry – one of the seniors departing – said White’s strongest point was improving the team’s physical fitness.

“His fitness plan is brilliant,” Barry said. “When it comes to regattas, he made sure physically we were all at the top of our game.”

Barry said White’s fitness plan is called the “Tax Man,” where the team has to do three 20-minute races whether on the ergometer, an indoor rowing machine, or on the water. The fitness plan is preformed every other day.

While some of the novices have yet to work with White during the spring season, fresh-

man Robert Byrne said if White decides to retire, it would be disappointing.

While crew members say they believe White will be returning to Temple in the fall, White has slowly handed some of his coaching responsibility to assistant coach Brian Perkins.

Perkins oversees the recruiting circuit, fills out some paperwork and at times talks to the team through the speakers when rowing along with White.

Ultimately, if White retires, the university would choose who would lead the next chapter of the men’s crew program – although Perkins would be a leading candidate.

The crew team will race in the Dad Vail Regatta May 9-10 – just a few days before he says he will announce his future plans.

“It’s been a very rewarding 35 years,” White said.

While it may seem improbable, the Owls could get to that point in a few years. They have a young quarterback with upside in P.J. Walker, the leading solo tackler in the nation in Tyler Matakevich and one of, if not the best incoming recruiting class in program history.

The idea that money invested in football will turn out

to be a sunk cost is unfair. But the university’s steadfast refusal to address the connection of the cuts and the football team has not helped.

Why won’t Theobald or Clark say publicly that the university wants to invest in its football team and explain why they think that’s the right move?

Why are they grappling with the

Eagles over a number that may have been made up?

Perhaps they’re afraid of talking themselves into a hole.

But their silence has already gotten them halfway to China.

Continued from page 22

CREW

Danielle Nelson can be reached at danielle.nelson@temple.edu.

Evan Cross can be reached at evan.cross@temple.edu or on Twitter @EvanCross.

SPORTS

PAGE 20

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

President Theobald (left) sits alongside the Board of Trustees during February’s reinstatement of the crew and rowing teams. Senior Fergal Barry works out with the crew team in McGonigle Hall. The university reversed its decision to cut the crew and rowing teams after an agreement was formed to renovate the East Park Canoe House. | ABI REIMOLD/KARA MILSTEIN TTN Continued from page 22

CUTS

track & field program.

Temple’s cuts arrive during a period in collegiate athletics where universities with Division I teams are attempting to keep up with high-performing athletic programs nationwide in an effort to create a model where revenue sports can bring in enough money to sustain entire athletic departments.

For its decision to cut sports, Temple blamed inadequate facilities, issues with gender equity and a slim athletic budget, which doesn’t stack up to most schools in Temple’s new conference – the American Athletic Conference.

The crew and rowing teams were saved after a successful effort to renovate the previously condemned East Park Canoe House, due to a donation from H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest and funding from the city. But five other sports – baseball, softball, men’s gymnastics and men’s indoor and outdoor track & field – remain on the chopping block.

In 2012-13, there were 24 Division I teams dropped throughout the country. Since 1988-89, nearly 5,000 men’s and women’s teams have been eliminated from NCAA institutions.

“In a different era, I would have experienced an uninterrupted career,” Berg said. “This wouldn’t have been a problem.”

athletic director from 2002-13, said in an interview. “I worry about non-revenue men’s sports.

Women’s sports will be well funded because of Title IX, but the men have no defense.”

A complaint alleging Temple’s failure to meet Title IX standards was filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights after the cuts were announced last December. Theobald said the complaint was not surprising and that he took the issue “extremely seriously.”

FOLLOWING THE MONEY

In Fall 1938, a football game was beamed from the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field to the now-defunct Philco office laboratories. There were reportedly six television sets in Philadelphia at the time, and each one was tuned into the game – the first collegiate sporting event ever aired on screen.

But by the 1980s, broadcasting had caused one of college football’s biggest controversies.

In 1981, the NCAA adopted a plan to limit the amount of televised football games and the number any one institution may air. Officials claimed the restrictions were necessary to avoid a decrease in attendance on game day.

The University of Georgia and Oklahoma City fought back with an antitrust suit. The case went to the Supreme Court, which voted 7-2 against the NCAA – a ruling that dramatically shifted the landscape of collegiate sports. The previously imposed barriers were lifted and universities were free to make as much money as they ELIMINATION Three days before Temple Athletic Director were able to negotiate with networks. “[The case] created the process of commerKevin Clark gathered athletes into the Student cialism in college sports,” Warren Zola, an execuPavilion to deliver the news that his recommentive director at Boston College’s Carroll School of dation to cut seven sports was approved by the Management, said. “It gave teams the opportunity Board of Trustees, Robert Morris University Athto compete for finances.” letic Director Craig Coleman was dealing with the But a school’s negotiating power rested with effects of terminating seven varsity sports from the power of its conference.

And within weeks of his own athletic department. the Supreme Court ruling, the nation’s top leagues Robert Morris is a much smaller school than began discussions with major networks. The Big Temple in terms of enrollment, but its men’s basTen Conference and Pac-10 Conference signed ketball team has made strides during recent years. with ABC and the Big East Conference eventualColeman said the cuts came as part of a university-wide initiative aimed at reexamining every ly formed a deal with CBS. The College Football aspect of spending. Like Temple’s administration, Association, an organization formed in 1977 to Coleman said operating more than 20 teams cre- negotiate TV contracts with networks, disbanded ated a system that seemed “a little out of whack.” in 1995.

Now, the nation’s “Power 5” – the Atlantic “It’s becoming expensive to run these sports,” Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference, Big Coleman said.

Ten, Big 12 Conference and Pac-12 – hold some Temple and Robert Morris are not alone. In of the largest television deals in all of sports, as 2012, Maryland followed through with the elimieach one rakes in an average of $229 million nation of seven sports. In 2006, Rutgers cut six per year.

The schools that play in these confersports from its athletic department. Several smallences gain the most national exposure, giving er institutions have also eliminated programs durtheir teams immediate accessibility to big-name ing recent years. recruits that often propel them to postseason sucTennis, golf, rifle and track & field expericess – leading to increased revenue from brandenced the most cuts in 2012-13. There were also net losses in women’s water polo, women’s bowl- ing, merchandising and other financial ventures.

“The big five conferences in the NCAA are ing and field hockey. Since 1988-89, sports like moving toward an unintended monopoly,” Bradfencing, skiing and wrestling have shrunk sigshaw said.

“The conferences are separating themnificantly nationwide. There were 59 Division selves from the pact.”

I men’s gymnastics programs in 1981, but after Temple became a football-only member of Temple’s cuts take effect this summer there will the Big East in 1991, but was kicked out in 2004 only be 16 remaining. after a decade of poor performance. After the reSince 1989, there has been a net loss of 322 surgence led by former coaches Al Division I men’s sports throughout Golden and Steve Addazio, Temthe country, while there has been ple rejoined the Big East for the a net gain of 761 women’s teams.

2012 season – bringing most of its Of the five teams Temple is cutother varsity sports with it the folting, only one is a women’s sport – lowing year when the conference softball. The biggest loss of men’s transitioned into The American. sports last season was swimming Bradshaw, who oversaw the teams. There has also been a deuniversity’s deal to enter the concrease of more than 100 wrestling ference, said the discussions of teams since 1988-89. moving the university into The Universities with football American mostly involved possiteams typically have more diffibilities for revenue sports. culty than other schools in meetThe American signed a deal ing Title IX, a gender equity law with ESPN in early 2013 that is passed in 1972, as football rosters reportedly worth $20 million per Justin Berg / track & field thrower usually hold more male studentyear, though contract specifics athletes on scholarship than any haven’t been made public. other program. Besides basketball and football, Universities in The American receive far less Temple will sponsor six men’s programs and 11 money than Power 5 schools, but the new conwomen’s teams after the cuts take effect on July 1. ference has provided institutions like Temple Temple’s administration blamed the university’s failure to comply with Title IX as a prominent with unprecedented exposure. Temple’s football, reason for the cuts. In a February interview, Theo- men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams bald said he would have preferred to simply add had record television appearances during their inanother female sport. But with Temple’s budget augural years in The American.

Theobald and his administration have spread throughout 24 sports – more than any other staunchly denied that revenue sports are behind school in The American – he added that such an the cuts.

Many of the biggest critics who emerged option was “not feasible.” in the aftermath of Temple’s initial announcement The Temple News was denied an interview pointed to an underperforming football program for this article with Clark and other administraas the source of the athletic department’s financial tors. ineptitude.

“Way too often presidents cite Title IX for “They are simply wrong,” Theobald said of cutting men’s sports,” Bill Bradshaw, Temple’s

“In a different

era, I would have experienced an uninterrupted career. This wouldn’t have been a problem.

”

the naysayers in an Inquirer op-ed last December.

“Any potential savings from reallocating football scholarships to other sports would be more than offset by the resulting loss of television revenue from our conference’s new seven-year contract with ESPN and CBS Sports.”

Theobald, who, unlike his predecessor, can often be seen in the stands at football and basketball games, said in a February interview that he loves the possibilities that collegiate athletics can bring to the university.

“For many alumni, this is the front door,” Theobald said. “I got to meet 10 of our top alumni who were there to see the game and let them know what’s going on. I enjoy being there, but it’s also a way to tell the university’s message to as broad an audience as possible.”

Bradshaw told The Temple News earlier this year that dropping sports was “always under discussion” during the tenures of former presidents Ann Weaver Hart and David Adamany.

Bradshaw avoided cutting any sports during his career at Temple. But on a national scale, he watched several universities drop sports in an increasingly changing industry focused on football and basketball.

“Teams follow the money,” Bradshaw said.

BY THE NUMBERS

4,902

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S NCAA TEAMS DROPPED FROM 1988-2013

24

DIVISION I TEAMS ELIMINATED IN 2012-13

$202.5 M

2012-13 BCS BOWL SEASON REVENUE

322

NET LOSS OF DIVISION I MEN’S TEAMS SINCE 1989

5

TEMPLE PROGRAMS REMAINING ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK

BEHIND THE PACK

As television opportunities have become increasingly lucrative, universities have shifted their efforts on where they are able to make the most money – basketball and football.

According to a report from the college athletics watchdog Knight Commission, the amount of money spent per football player scholarship at FBS schools nearly doubled between 2005 and 2012, going from $82,000 to $153,000.

The 2012-13 BCS Bowl season totaled $202.5 million in revenue last year, distributing between $5 million and $52 million to each conference.

For men’s basketball, the NCAA tournament generated about $1 million per year back in the early 1970s. Now, March Madness generates nearly $1 billion each spring.

“Men’s basketball and football are the drivers of revenue,” Zola said. “So certainly the investment and performance of those teams is critical to the commercialization of intercollegiate athletics.”

“It’s hard to change the interest of consumers,” Zola added.

With revenue sports holding increased power and importance, conference realignment during recent years has been increasingly based on performance as opposed to location.

Coleman said one of the most prominent issues driving athletic cuts nationwide is the realignment of schools based on television revenues from basketball and football, as opposed to “logical geography.”

When Temple joined the Big East in 2012, the conference spanned four time zones. Schools in The American range from Connecticut to Texas – increasing travel expenses for Temple sports that previously competed in an Atlantic 10 Conference where almost every school was within a reasonable driving distance to make an away game a one-day trip.

From the beginning of its transition from the A-10 to The American, Temple was behind the

rest of the pack. Many of the university’s nonrevenue facilities do not stack up against other schools in The American and Temple’s operating expenses rank lower than most other conference opponents. Theobald said the cuts were largely due to the university’s overreaching in trying to spread its athletic budget across more sports than any other conference opponent.

Revenues for Temple’s football team also fall behind many in the conference. While Rutgers collected $19.5 million on football between 2012-13, Temple gained $13.1 million. Cincinnati made more than $16 million on its football team during the same time frame.

The university will save $2 million to $2.5 million as a result of the athletic cuts, but a spokesperson said last month that the administration is still deciding how to best reallocate the newly available funds.

WHAT’S NEXT?

A few weeks after announcing the athletic cuts at Robert Morris, Coleman’s phone rang. On the other end of the line was a Division I athletic director, who was looking for advice: How did he cut sports? How did he make the decision? When?

Coleman said he has received numerous calls from athletic directors asking the same sorts of questions.

“Clearly there are more coming,” Coleman said.

The elimination of some sports, like swimming, gymnastics and wrestling, is shrinking the amount of opportunities remaining for studentathletes nationwide. The athletic cuts at Maryland ended the career of Sloan, as he opted to stay at the university to continue his education.

“When a team is taken away from an athlete, it takes away that athlete’s friends, his passion and for swimmers – his life,” Sloan said in an email.

“I would never wish the cutting of a program upon any athlete, and I sincerely hope that Maryland and other schools across the country can find alternatives to cutting teams.”

Berg, the track thrower who is experiencing his second set of cuts at Temple, will continue his career at Penn State this fall – his third school in four years.

During recent seasons, as revenues have soared for men’s basketball and football, many student-athletes have protested for the ability to receive forms of payment, besides a scholarship, for providing their athletic services to the university.

In March, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that football players at Northwestern are employees of the university and are therefore able to unionize, possibly making the studentathletes eligible to receive forms of payment. In June, an antitrust lawsuit regarding the use of player names and images was filed by former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon. And a new policy formed last week by the NCAA will enable schools to provide unlimited meals to their student-athletes.

If universities are able to provide such luxuries to their student-athletes, critics argue the Power 5 conferences will pull even further away from the pack.

“If they’re able to pay student-athletes, they’ll dominate recruiting,” Bradshaw said.

“They already have major advantages with their universities with their location, facilities, conferences. They’re able to compete. With the way it’s going now, the separation is getting more egregious all the time.”

Last week, the NCAA’s board of directors endorsed a 57-page plan that gives more power to schools in the Power 5. These universities would receive more voting power of legislation for schools nationwide. The group would also hold the ability to enact its own rules.

The Power 5 schools would control scholarship logistics, healthcare and funding for families to travel with student-athletes, among other proposals.

As for what the future of collegiate athletics holds, Coleman said he believes the realignment of Division I athletics is causing an “earth-shattering” affect that could lead to the Power 5 becoming “completely unshackled.”

“There will be a greater gap between those five conferences and the rest that don’t have the money,” Coleman said. “An increased pressure for other schools to keep up with the Power 5.

You know what will be the only way to solve it?”

“Cut sports.”

Avery Maehrer and EJ Smith can be reached at sports@temple-news.com.

SPORTS

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

PAGE 21

baseball

Wheeler’s team faces an exodus Several athletes are choosing to transfer to other institutions.

JEFF NEIBURG The Temple News Carl Iwasaki had his eye on Reyn Sugai last year.

Sugai was coming off of a season where he batted .349 with 28 RBIs and 12 steals at Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kan. Now, Iwasaki will get the opportunity to bring Sugai – a fellow Hawaiian – to his program at Northern Colorado after Temple’s baseball program will cease to exist on July 1 after the Board of Trustees voted to eliminate the team last December.

For Sugai, a junior broadcast journalism major from Honolulu, the decision to leave Temple for Greeley, Colo., wasn’t easy.

“Temple has a really good journalism program, which I don’t think you come upon every day,” Sugai said. “I really like the classes and my teachers and stuff, but since I was a little kid I wanted to play college baseball.”

“I just want to chase the dream as long as I can,” Sugai added.

Sugai isn’t alone in wanting to keep that dream alive.

The Owls’ roster features 18 players with NCAA eligibility remaining beyond this season, even after the program had six players transfer immediately following the cuts.

While the future of many of those 18 players is undecided, a few underclassmen have joined Sugai in making their decision for next season.

Sophomore pitcher Tim McCarthy will be heading to St. Joseph’s University, freshman pitcher Simon Mathews will transfer to Georgetown and sophomore catcher Michael D’Acunti will continue his playing career at the College of Charleston.

The future of sophomore starting centerfielder Jimmy Kerrigan remains uncertain.

Coach Ryan Wheeler said that Kerrigan has been hearing from schools like St. Joe’s, Virginia Commonwealth University and Radford.

Kerrigan has started in all 36 games and is second on the team with a .299 batting aver-

age and is second on the roster with seven steals.

“I’m just looking to go somewhere where I can play and play for as long as possible and hopefully win a championship somewhere,” Kerrigan said.

Not knowing who is watching or what their future holds, Kerrigan and Sugai admitted to feeling added pressure throughout the season.

“I have [felt extra pressure] at times,” Kerrigan said.

“Sometimes I get too ahead of myself and I tell myself to just relax.”

“You try not to think about it but it’s definitely in the back of our minds when we’re playing,” Sugai said. “You’re always trying to have a 4-for-4 day and you kind of do put on some added pressure that wouldn’t necessarily be there if we weren’t in the situation we were in.”

Wheeler said his job has been difficult as well, shuffling lineups during midweek games to try to get as many people on the field as possible.

“I’m trying to remain competitive but yet I’m trying to showcase these guys and give them a chance to show what they can do for other teams,” Wheeler said.

Once July 1 comes, Wheeler will be without a job, along with the rest of his coaching staff. The third-year Temple coach and Souderton High School graduate still isn’t sure what’s in store for him beyond this season.

“We’re coming down to the end of the season, so maybe there’ll be some coaching vacancies out there,” Wheeler said. “[I’m] still kicking around and talking to a number of folks [about things] that would keep me in baseball, but not necessarily in the college coaching ranks.”

Twenty years after graduating from Penn State, Wheeler may have to put 17 years of coaching college baseball in his rearview mirror. He has a degree in golf course management he could use.

“I’ve been away from it for so long that I don’t know if I could jump back in that field or not,” Wheeler said. “Who knows? Maybe so, if nothing turns up on the baseball field.”

Jeff Neiburg can be reached at jeffrey.neiburg@temple.edu.

Members of the men’s gymnastics team protest near Liacouras Walk before February’s Board of Trustees meeting that led to the reinstatement of the crew and rowing teams. The program is slated to be eliminated on July 1. | HUA ZONG TTN

men’s gymnastics

Rydzefski and others will stay, Eigner still undecided Most gymnasts will remain with the upcoming club team.

STEVE BOHNEL The Temple News Evan Eigner is facing one of the toughest decisions of his life.

Having just finished his sophomore season with the men’s gymnastics team, Eigner has been involved with Temple’s program for almost his entire life. Growing up as the son of coach Fred Turoff, Eigner started his gymnastics career through Temple’s boys’ gymnastics program, and stayed true to his roots by joining the Owls’ Division I squad last season.

After the Board of Trustees voted to eliminate the program last December, Eigner – like his teammates – now has to decide whether he wants to stay at Temple or try to transfer elsewhere to continue his gymnastic career at the Division I level.

Campus Recreation head Steve Young confirmed to The Temple News earlier this month that the program will become a club sport next year.

“Right now, I’m leaning toward staying,” Eigner said.

“But to leave would be tough because this is really all I’ve known for my whole life. In this sport, it’s been T.U.G.” If Eigner does choose to

leave, it will mean the end of as soon as it started – he was a working with his father in a walk-on this year as a freshman. sport that has been on a steady But even after just one season, decline for the last couple of Wright is sticking with Temple decades. That being said, Turoff gymnastics. is letting his son decide how he “We’ve grown so closewants to continue his future in knit,” Wright said. “It will be gymnastics. really hard just to leave it all.

“I’d be sad because I would Even though we’re not a D-1 like to have him stay t e a m , with us,” Turoff said. we’re still “But if he does decide a team, to transfer away, I’ll and I just support him.” want to With Temple’s stick with program slated to be my team.” cut on July 1, the toB e tal number of men’s sides cagymnastics programs maraderie, at the Division I level finances will shrink to 16. A were also lack of outside opinvolved tions, along with the with the Casey Polizzotto / freshman gymnasts’ fact that many members of the team aldecisionready feel established here in making process. Student-athNorth Philadelphia, has resulted letes transferring out-of-state in many of Temple’s gymnasts would have to consider the inopting to stay. creased cost of tuition and livGrady Cooper couldn’t ing.

Casey Polizzotto realizes make the team during his freshman year and had to participate this reality, and it’s one of the on the club team. Now, after reasons he said he will stay at competing at the Division I lev- Temple, despite holding three el during his sophomore year, years of remaining eligibility.

“It’s hard to transfer into he’s facing a return to a club another gymnastics program, sport.

“Temple is my home,” especially at a D-I level,” PoCooper said. “I wouldn’t want lizzotto said. “For me, it’s hard to be on any other team with for me to go outside of state without a scholarship because it any other group of guys.”

Antone Wright’s Divi- would be more expensive.”

Sophomore Jon Rydzefsion I career concluded almost

“It’s hard

to transfer into another gymnastics program, especially at the D-I level.

”

ski competed in the all-around this season for Temple and the NCAA Qualifying Competition in the category this year.

Even though that success could allow him to continue his Division I career somewhere else, Rydzefski doesn’t see the need to transfer.

“It was mostly the environment,” Rydzefski said. “I already made a life for myself here, so it would be difficult as a sophomore to uproot and start it all over again.”

Despite a large group returning for the club team next season, many admit that the club status won’t have the same feel as the program that has stood as a Division I program for 88 years.

“It probably will drop a little bit,” Rydzefski said.

Turoff said he isn’t surprised that many of his gymnasts are staying at Temple, as hopes to reinstate the team are quickly diminishing.

“I think they’re committed to Temple gymnastics,” Turoff said. “They’re certainly not as happy with Temple University at this point. But they know that Temple gymnastics has a strong history and tradition and they feel apart of it. And I want them to continue to feel a part of it, for the same reason I want to keep on coaching them.”

Steve Bohnel can be reached at steven.bohnel@temple.edu or on Twitter @SteveSportsGuy1.

FACILITIES SPOTLIGHT | AMBLER SPORTS COMPLEX

Without baseball and softball, Ambler’s future remains uncertain The complex that debuted in 2004 will now only host soccer.

DON MCDERMOTT The Temple News When Devynne Nelons first saw how far Temple’s softball stadium was from Main Campus, she wasn’t bothered.

“My high school field was off-campus, so I was used to that,” Nelons, now the Owls’ senior third baseman, said. “When I came on my visit, it was a great field. I loved it, and I felt like I wouldn’t really mind the trip to Ambler every day.”

After the Board of Trustees voted last December to cut softball and baseball, only men’s and women’s soccer will continue competing at Ambler Campus. Now, the future of the sports complex – and the campus in general – is uncertain.

Softball coach Joe DiPietro said a member of the Board of Trustees recently informed him and baseball coach Ryan Wheel-

er that the university is planning to sell Ambler Campus.

Senior Vice President for Construction, Facilities and Operations Jim Creedon called DiPietro’s remarks “a rumor,” and said there are no plans to sell Ambler.

Administrators said the commute to Ambler was detrimental to the well-being of student athletes. Coaches and players, however, question whether the transportation obstacle warranted the elimination of their teams. “[The location] hasn’t played an impact on getting recruits,” DiPietro said. “I never lost a kid because of Ambler.”

Men’s soccer coach David MacWilliams was at Temple in 2004 when his sport moved to Ambler, along with baseball, softball and women’s soccer.

“They tried to make it work for the four teams that were going up there,” MacWilliams said.

DiPietro joined the Owls four years after the facilities at Ambler were opened. But DiPi-

etro was coaching at nearby La Salle during the transition, and he remembers what it was like playing at Ambler as an opponent.

“I saw the facility they played at before, and it was not good,” DiPietro said. “It was in a terrible area. So I thought [Ambler] was a huge upgrade.”

Ambler has its drawbacks, however. MacWilliams pointed to the soccer benches, which have no coverings. The field is not fenced in and has no drainage system.

“So the first few years, when it rained, it just sat there,” MacWilliams said.

Ambler teams have also had trouble getting fans to travel to their games. Last fall, the men’s and women’s soccer teams had, by far, the lowest attendance in the American Athletic Conference.

“It’s tough, because we don’t have lights, we have to play a lot of times [at] two or three in the afternoon,” MacWilliams said. “There’s not a lot of people that can make that,

The baseball team has played at Skip Wilson Field in Ambler, Pa., since the facility first made its debut in 2004. The field seats 1,000 people and lacks lights. | STEPHEN GODWIN JR. TTN and we’re away from the student body.”

DiPietro said he thinks softball gets a good turnout, although Nelons was less enthusiastic, saying that “most of our fans are family.” She said that she has seen other sports at Temple, along with softball programs from other universities, get larger crowds.

Nelons added that the trips to Ambler have been harder than

she had thought they would be.

“It’s definitely been frustrating over the years, to get on a bus and ride an hour up and an hour back,” Nelons said.

President Theobald has publicly said the plans to build a soccer field south of Main Campus are in the works.

Creedon said no decision has been made on the future of the baseball and softball fields past this summer.

Nelons said she could have overlooked the long distance if Temple had kept the softball program.

“Obviously, if we were presented with, ‘Stay on [Ambler] Campus or lose your program altogether,’ we would easily have chosen to stay at Ambler,” Nelons said.

Don McDermott can be reached at donald.mcdermott@temple.edu.

SPORTS OWLS TO TRANSFER

Members of the soon-to-be-cut baseball team said there has been added pressure to compete at a high level to increase their chances of transferring. PAGE 21

Our sports sports blog blog Our

thecherry.temple-news.com

HERBIN RETURNS

Wide reciever Khalif Herbin redshirted last season, but was back on the field last Saturday for the football team’s Cherry & White game. PAGE 19

LACROSSE MISSES TOURNEY

Bonnie Rosen’s squad dropped its finale to Rutgers, Victoria Macaulay signs with WNBA, other news and notes . PAGE 19

temple-news.com

PAGE 22

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

THE DROP-OFF With the university’s elimination of five athletic programs nearing, questions remain about what the future holds for non-revenue sports nationwide.

AVERY MAEHRER EJ SMITH The Temple News

A

nderson Sloan knew the situation all too well.

A transfer from Clemson, which cut its swimming team in 2010, Sloan and the rest of the University of Maryland swimming team were instructed to attend an urgent meeting with coaches before a practice in November 2011.

On that day, Maryland announced the elimination of its swimming program – one that many would argue had a bright future with state-of-the-art facilities and several standout student-athletes – along with eight other sports, in an effort to solve financial troubles amid a football program that raked in less money than almost every other school in college football’s top conferences.

“We have a financial model for two programs, only two programs, which have to subsidize all the rest of the sports,” Maryland President Wallace Loh said in the statement announcing the cuts. “It is a national model that is faulty, that is inequitable and that is unsustainable.”

Around the same time of Sloan experiencing his second round of cuts, Millersville thrower Justin Berg was making plans to transfer to Temple after the Marauders cut their track & field program. After Berg’s first year of competition with the Owls, Temple announced its elimination of seven sports last December – including the 89-year-old men’s

CUTS PAGE 20

ANDREW THAYER TTN

COMMENTARY

crew

White unsure of fate

Questions linger for administration

The longtime coach will announce plans for future in May.

P

Clark and Theobald hurt themselves by not addressing cuts.

DANIELLE NELSON The Temple News There are mornings when Gavin White struggles to get out of bed.

On other mornings, however, the longtime coach springs out of bed with a renewed sense of energy before conducting his 6 a.m. crew practice on the Schuylkill.

“It’s really hard for me to predict how I am going to feel from one day to the next,” White said.

Now, White is contemplating retirement after a season that

Coach Gavin White (left) talks to senior captain Fergal Barry at the team’s April 5 regatta on the Schuylkill. White will announce his future plans on May 12. | KARA MILSTEIN TTN has been one of the most tumultuous during his more than three decades running the program.

White said he will announce his decision on May 12, during a banquet for his student-athletes.

The crew and rowing teams, along with five other sports, were eliminated last December as the university cited facilities issues as a conflict

to the well-being of studentathletes. After months of fighting back against the cuts, the crew and rowing teams were reinstated after a donation from H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest and funding from the city resulted in a new plan for the renovation of the East Park Canoe House.

White said after the reinstatement that he was consider-

ing stepping down to an advisory role, but that the reversal of the cuts might give him “new energy.”

When the athletic cuts were announced in December, however, White said it could not have happened at a worse time in his life. Now in his ‘60s, he has battled Parkinson’s for more

WHITE PAGE 19

men’s track & field

Pickett, team say farewell to Penn Relays The senior earned two medals at the penultimate meet.

STEPHEN GODWIN JR. The Temple News Gabe Pickett couldn’t compete.

As a senior at Vestal High School, a torn meniscus prevented the jumper from participating in the Penn Relays.

But four years later, in his third visit to the event since joining the Owls in 2010, Pickett was the last member of the men’s track & field team to

compete at the Penn Relays. He of coming out here and performearned two medals, placing fifth ing and it’s an honor to be a part in the long jump and fourth in of the last hurrah for the men’s the triple jump. program,” PickWith the ett said.

Board of TrustAs a freshees’ December man aiming to vote to eliminate return strong the program after from his injury, this season, PickPickett said his ett was the final first year with representative of the team was a the program to learning expecompete in the rience – one in Gabe Pickett / senior jumper Penn Relays – a which he utimeet the Owls have competed lized feedback from coaches, in for almost a century – before kept his head down and folthe cuts take effect in July. lowed instructions.

“We have a great tradition When Pickett finally got a

SPORTS DESK 215-204-9537

“It’s an honor to be a part of the last hurrah for the men’s program.

”

chance to compete in the Penn Relays in 2011, he described the experience as “nerve-racking.” Now in his third trip to the event, he said this one was more relaxed and enjoyable.

Pickett has been one of the men’s team’s top performers during recent years, which included a trip to the NCAA East Region preliminaries in 2013.

He said his experiences on the team have been worthwhile, and have taught him a lot – both off and on the track.

“You have to work hard for everything you want in life because you are going to have

RELAYS PAGE 19

SPORTS@TEMPLE-NEWS.COM

resident Theobald hasn’t been the best with public relations in the past year.

I n March, Theobald told a group of mostly AfricanAmerican community Evan Cross activists that he’s never been invited to Temple’s Charles L. Blockson AfroAmerican Collection, despite it being located a floor below his office in Sullivan Hall.

More recently, Theobald claimed the Philadelphia Eagles want to double the cost of renting Lincoln Financial Field for football games and want $12 million upfront, a claim the Eagles have rebutted.

Most of all, Theobald and other administrators, specifically Athletic Director Kevin Clark, have botched the rollout of their decision last December to eliminate seven non-revenue sports.

In announcing the cuts to the affected student-athletes, Clark read a statement off a piece of paper and was gone within five minutes. Three days before, Robert Morris’ athletic director, Craig Coleman, announced the elimination of seven varsity sports at the Pittsburgh, Pa., school. Coleman made the announcement and

then answered questions from student-athletes for 45 minutes.

Apart from a closed press conference on the day of the cuts that only five media outlets – including The Temple News – were invited to, Clark has not addressed the decision publicly and all further requests for comment have been denied.

It seems the athletic department is taking the stance that the decision is final and there’s nothing more to be said.

As a senior who has closely followed Temple sports – revenue and non-revenue – for the past four years, the handling of the situation leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Any program a school offers, including Division I sports, should be primarily focused on fostering the personal growth of its members. While the cuts were best for business, the administrators should have handled it more personally with the affected student-athletes.

There are plenty of questions that haven’t been answered. The administration said the cuts, which have since been reduced to five sports, will save between $2 million and $2.5 million. That’s a lot of money on its own, but it’s only 5 or 6 percent of the overall athletic budget. Why can’t the administration be more specific as to why they think the money saved was worth it?

Clark said the money left over from the cuts will be reinvested in the remaining programs. Apart from denying that the money will go to the football team, he hasn’t specified where that money will go.

There has been some public

CROSS PAGE 19